If the government gets its reform proposals pushed through, Rodrigues might get its long-standing wish for increased representation in parliament fulfilled. Rodriguan parties have long demanded that they should have three, instead of the current two MPs just like any other constituency in the country. These demands have been based on the fact that in 2010, the number of voters in Rodrigues has outstripped certain constituencies in the Mauritian mainland, such as in constituencies nos 2 and 3. Or that Rodrigues boasts its own infrastructure such as a port and utilities infrastructure. Obviously, these arguments don’t hold much water. For one thing, numbers don’t translate into parliamentarians. No.3 has 21,530 voters and No.14 has 62,183 and both have three MPs. And the location of infrastructure does not mean much. If it did, Port Louis would probably demand more seats because it too has a port. And each constituency in Mauritius has its own claims on infrastructural development. But logic aside, the government seems to be amenable to give Rodrigues one more MP, not on the strength of its other arguments, but just so it can implement a one third gender quota in putting forward candidates in its regional elections.

But the real problem that bedevils Rodrigues (and this may sound like political blasphemy) is not the number of MPs it sends to parliament, but the way its politics seems to have shot right out of the mainstream of Mauritian politics. Until 1982 — that year was a turning point for Rodrigues as well —  the island was dominated politically by the PMSD. That year, the OPR pushed the PMSD out of power and by 1987, the PMSD — and its last link to wider Mauritian politics — was annihilated as a Rodriguan political force.  From then on, Rodriguan politics was merely an affair exclusively between Rodriguan political parties. The PMSD wants to recreate its lost empire on the island but so far, has made little headway. 

This turning inwards within Rodrigues — much to the delight of Rodriguan autonomists, and a handful of crank separatists — has had very real consequences in terms of the development of the island. The constituency is dependent upon Port Louis for funding and development. But what the domination of Rodrigues by Rodriguan parties has meant is that Port Louis quite simply doesn’t have much political interest in development there: unlike constituencies on the mainland, parties in the central government don’t have to play the I-scratch-your-back-you-vote-for-mine game in Rodrigues. If the central government is generous with funding, the party ruling in Port Mathurin gets the credit and the votes, not them. And if they are stingy, the central government doesn’t lose much since nobody voted for them there anyway. The realities of the situation mean that, in practice, whoever is ruling the roost in Rodrigues has to have good relations with whoever is ruling in Mauritius — they are not political competitors after all — to grease the wheels of funding for the constituency. So either way, Mauritian parties and governments have little to lose or to gain no matter what happens in Rodrigues. Its problems may inflame passions within Rodrigues, but within Mauritius, those paying attention can probably be counted on one hand. MPs from Rodrigues look like long-term guests in the National Assembly. The result of over 36 years of domination by Rodriguan parties – and 16 years of autonomy – is that Rodrigues is still the poorest constituency in the country. Geography has some role to play in this, but Rodrigues has not helped the situation by extricating itself from the current of Mauritian politics. At present, Rodrigues seems little more than a guinea pig for electoral reforms being contemplated in Mauritius and an administrative heading under a single ministry in Mauritius.

So while the government’s proposals to boost the number of Rodriguan MPs will cause jubilation in Port Mathurin, in reality, it won’t change much.

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