He held all the cards. And he had a strategy. The outgoing prime minister, Pravind Jugnauth, sounding as cocky as the king of spades confirmed that. “I have a strategy,” he said with a knowing smile, suggesting that there was no need to worry about him. In fact, he had a strategy for all the three parties. 

The strategy started five years ago. And it was working. When the Alliance Lepep unexpectedly took power in 2014, the Jugnauths had set out their priorities: Passing down the power to Pravind Jugnauth, discrediting beyond redemption what they thought was their only political opponent and eliminating his sources of finance, taking full control of the state institutions and working full blast on the image of a ‘young’ and ‘clean’ prime minister. 

Thanks to the spin doctors, the press in general focused all its efforts on the scandals of ministers and MPs, sparing Pravind Jugnauth entirely. Today, we are finding out how much alleged looting has been going on in the BAIgate, Maradivagate, Serenitygate, Marsgate, Krishan Malhotra’s Rs1.2 billion investment in a hotel in the Seychelles... all this was kept under wraps and the grand plan was working. Later, Pravind Jugnauth embarked on the last step of his strategy. Annihilating the MMM by poaching its candidates one after the other in a very aggressive campaign that took advantage of the worst of human nature. 

“We are in for a rough ride and a great deal of broken promises. Brace yourselves!”   

Neither the Labour Party nor the MMM seemed to have any strategy of their own. Both parties used the hand dealt to them by the king of spades. The Labour Party started licking its wounds and playing the role of the victim by shouting “revenge” every time a court case was dropped by the judges and magistrates. And its supporters used their anger to oil the party machinery and go on the offensive. 

Similarly, when MMM members started running away like rats to take shelter where they thought the sun shone brighter, some thought that was the end of the party. Today we know better. The MSM actually did the MMM a huge favour. They made a martyr out of him and unwittingly allowed him to attract the kind of sympathy he had not attracted for decades, making the party that much stronger. So much so that those who were applauding the government and deriding the MMM are today aggressively campaigning for the latter and trying very hard to be in the good books. The smell of victory is intoxicating. So Paul Bérenger has found a serenity he had not had for a long time. Gone is the distressed man surrounded by sullen faces in press conferences that looked more like funerals. His jokes have become funny again. 

It is not clear how this will play out next week when the chips are down. What is sure is that banking on annihilating two parties and winning by default was not such a great plan after all as the two parties are still up and fighting. It is war till death. 

November 8 may reserve some surprises for us. It may, however, not answer all our questions. The results are likely to lead to negotiations or perhaps even poaching. Another episode that may show us the worst in human nature and the limitations of democracy. We are in for a rough ride and a great deal of broken promises. Brace yourselves!  

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