1969 was one of the most important turning points in the history of independent Mauritius, as well as perhaps one of its most misunderstood. That year saw the establishment of an unlikely coalition government between the Labour Party and the PMSD. 

Fresh from a toxic and communally charged electoral campaign in 1967, the Labour Party emerged at the helm of an independent state that a significant part of the population did not support while the PMSD, the dreaded independence having come, seemed to be a fish out of water. Both sides knew the status quo was unendurable, but the bad blood within both parties was still strong. Early on, both Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam and Gaetan Duval started talks to settle on a coalition, but this fell through because Duval apparently opposed delaying the next election from 1972 to 1977. Ramgoolam denied coming up with such a proposal, saying it came from the PMSD. The political marriage between the two was eventually brokered by the French government and, in October 1969, both sides decided to form a coalition, and curiously, that the next elections would be held in 1976. Suddenly, the proposal that each denied making to the other and which seemed to be a sticking point, was accepted by both without much further explanation. Both leaders went on to browbeat, threaten and cajole their party colleagues to accept the coalition; within the Labour Party, the coalition was pushed through over objections from party stalwarts like Harold Walter, Kher Jagatsing and Guy Forget, while within the PMSD, Raymond Rivet, Maurice Lesage and Guy Ollivry eventually left over the deal. In the end, the coalition was a done deal and those disenchanted with it went on to either form their own parties (like Ollivry’s UDM) or gravitate towards a rising MMM. 

This 1969 coalition was the ur-coalition in that it came to symbolise how political coalitions in Mauritius would be seen: an awkward, hastily arranged marriage of two political parties that until yesterday were at each other’s throats consummated with a minimum of explanation, even less principle and greeted with little enthusiasm by the party faithful. 

Although 1969 was not the most principled, most democratic or popular moment in Mauritian history, it was important in another – and ultimately more important – respect. Unlike in other states such as Guyana or Fiji, where government and opposition were riven along ethnic lines, with one lording it in government and another suffering in the opposition and then switching places, the unpopular 1969 coalition allowed space for the emergence of a multi-ethnic opposition as well made up of those angered over, or simply left out of, the deal. Unlike Fiji or Guyana, what happens in Mauritius is that since both government and opposition are multiethnic; no political party can long survive (despite its own worst instincts) by cracking down on any ethnic group and everybody in Mauritius has a party in government and in the opposition looking for his vote. This was only possible because of 1969. There is a downside of course: coalitions mean that the same parties just keep trading places. The broth is always different but the ingredients stay the same. This in turn means that there is a certain tolerance for corruption. Parties reviled as corrupt today, magically transform into ideal partners tomorrow. Although this is the side that gets more attention, what is forgotten is that it was the hard-nosed realism of 1969 that is the glue that keeps Mauritian politics humming and not flashy political moralism.  The ultimate compliment to the template set by 1969 is that even those parties that denounced it, or emerged in opposition to it, have not deviated an inch from the pattern set by 1969. And given the undoubted benefits that this coalition system has delivered, is not likely to. 

With the benefit of hindsight, and its enduring legacy, it’s time for a serious reevaluation of what 1969 was all about. 

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