The president, whose role is mostly ceremonial, is elected by the unicameral National Assembly to a five-year term. Pritivirajsing Roopun, a lawmaker from the MSM, was elected president in 2019 following that year’s parliamentary elections.

Executive power resides with the prime minister, who is appointed by the president from the party or coalition with the most seats in the legislature. Pravind Jugnauth of the MSM became prime minister when his father stepped down in 2017, and continued to serve in the role after the MSM’s success in the 2019 elections.

Of the National Assembly’s 70 members, 62 are directly elected in 21 constituencies. The MSM’s Morisian Alliance won 42 seats in the 2019 National Assembly elections. The Supreme Court considered the electoral results generally credible, though it continued to hear challenges to the results for several years afterward, and the African Union concluded that elections “were peacefully and professionally conducted.”

After rescheduling municipal elections twice, in 2021 and 2022, the MSM government once again postponed the elections in May 2023, this time until 2025. The government justified its decision by citing the need to pass administrative reforms during the parliamentary session in 2024.

The Electoral Supervisory Commission is broadly viewed as impartially supervising the electoral process. There is no law on the financing of electoral campaigns. As of 2023, long-standing discussions on electoral reform and party financing laws had not led to concrete action.

Freedom of association is enshrined in the Mauritian constitution, and political parties are generally free to form and operate.

Since independence, political power has peacefully rotated among the three largest parties—the Mauritian Labor Party (PTR), the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM), and the MSM. The MSM has been in power since 2014, when it defeated the PTR.

In May 2023, the MSM government postponed municipal elections for a third time, allowing the MSM to maintain power in local government without a mandate until 2025. The postponements have prompted protests and criticism from across the political spectrum.

In 2023, opposition leadership continued to struggle to create a broadly supported platform or present a political alternative to the MSM, leading to concerns about their ability to organize ahead of the 2024 elections. According to the survey group Afrobarometer, neither the ruling MSM nor the opposition parties are trusted by a majority of the population.

Voters and candidates are generally able to express their political choices without pressure from actors external to the political sphere. However, there is no law regulating the financing of electoral campaigns. The Jugnauth and Ramgoolam families have long-standing holds on political leadership positions, which may influence intraparty politics.

The government officially recognizes four distinct communities: Hindus, Muslims, Sino-Mauritians, and the general population, which includes Mauritian Creoles, Franco-Mauritians, and people of African descent. Ethnic minority groups, such as Rodriguais and Chagossians, are considered Creole.

Women are underrepresented in politics, and constitute only one fifth of legislators.

While LGBT+ individuals still face harassment and discrimination, the Supreme Court decriminalized same-sex sexual activity in October 2023. The prohibition on same-sex sexual activity had been seen as encouraging discrimination against LGBT+ individuals.

Elected representatives are duly seated, and the government has been able to make policy without interference or major political disruptions.

The Prevention of Corruption Act of 2002 covers most dishonest, fraudulent, and abusive governance practices, but it is inconsistently applied. Prime Minister Jugnauth has repeatedly come under scrutiny, and a significant minority of international business leaders see corruption as pervasive throughout Mauritius’s government and police force. The Mauritian government is routinely criticized by both domestic and international analysts for not being meritocratic, and according to Afrobarometer polling, nearly all Mauritians believe corruption is widespread.

There is no legislation that provides legal protection for whistleblowers.

The government openly debates the country’s budget in the National Assembly, publishes it and other legislation online and in the press, and maintains a national portal with openly accessible data. However, international organizations, including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Transparency International, have raised concerns about fiscal transparency and the impact it has on government services and marginalized communities.

The constitution guarantees freedom of expression. Several private daily and weekly publications report on the ruling and opposition parties, but the state-owned Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation’s radio and television services generally reflect government viewpoints.

The media regulatory agency is within the executive branch and lacks independence. Its sanctions disproportionately target opposition media. Under 2018 revisions to the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Act, journalists can face prison sentences for content that causes “inconvenience, distress, or anxiety.” That stipulation had not led to any arrests by the end of 2023.

In 2022, four journalists who had previously been critical of the government filed a complaint alleging that they had been threatened by progovernment Facebook accounts.

Religious freedom is generally upheld. The government grants subsidies to Hindu, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Seventh-day Adventist communities, but not to smaller groups, though all religious groups may apply for tax-exempt status. Tensions between Muslim and Hindu communities continue to be reported.

Academic freedom is generally upheld.

Private discussion is generally unrestricted. However, 2018 amendments to the ICT Act made the online publication of material deemed false, harmful, or illegal punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Regular concerns have been raised in civil society about de facto government surveillance and limitations on personal expression.

In 2022, the head of Mauritius Telecom accused the prime minister of violating the ICT Act by asking him to allow a third party to install equipment to monitor internet traffic. The same month, the former president of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) expressed concerns about the use of the Baie-Jacotet cable station to illegally capture data.

Freedom of assembly is usually upheld. The government was accused of overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic, when all assembly was banned during a government-imposed lockdown, but there were no restrictions on peaceful assembly in 2023.

Civil society groups operate freely. However, many are reliant upon government funding that could compromise their independence.

More than 300 unions regularly meet with government leaders, protest, and advocate for improved compensation and workers’ rights. However, the COVID-19 Act, passed in 2020, was criticized for limiting workers’ rights, including through reductions of additional pay for night shifts and overtime, annual days of leave, and other protections in the Workers’ Rights Act (WRA) of 2019. The last COVID-19 restrictions were removed in 2022, but the COVID-19 Act’s limitations on workers’ rights remained in place.

The judiciary is generally independent, though judicial independence has been questioned in some cases involving politicians. The Mauritian legal system combines French and British traditions, and Mauritius has maintained the right of appeal to the Privy Council in London.

Constitutional guarantees of due process are generally upheld. However, Mauritian criminal law allows police to charge suspects provisionally and then hold them for months until a formal charge is issued. Due to court backlogs, many of those being held in prison are in pretrial detention, and some detainees reportedly wait years before facing trial. The prison system has also been troubled by corruption, and in 2023 three prison officers were investigated for allegedly working with drug traffickers.

Mauritius is free from war and insurgencies. In 2016, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was formed to manage complaints. However, allegations of abuse by police continue.

Though the law and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) do not allow for discrimination in the workforce, some citizens view economic leadership as closed to ethnic minority groups. Chagossians and other ethnic minorities face discrimination.

Mauritius fervently maintains its claim to the Chagos Archipelago, and Chagossians assert that they suffer from a system of colonial exploitation. In 2023, a group of Chagossians filed a legal challenge arguing that they should be included in the negotiations over the transfer of the Chagos Archipelago from the United Kingdom to Mauritius.

In a 2022 study, the World Bank found that Mauritian women and girls continue to face gender-based violence, gender gaps, and disadvantageous social norms. There is a 26 percent gender gap in workforce participation, and women generally earn less money than men for equal work.

The Supreme Court decriminalized same-sex relations in October 2023, arguing that the ban had reflected colonial-era values, rather than indigenous Mauritian ones. Nevertheless, same-sex marriage is not recognized and LGBT+ people still face discrimination and the risk of targeted violence.

Citizens are generally allowed to move freely within Mauritius, but there are restrictions on travel to the Chagos Archipelago. Mauritians are free to change their place of residence, employment, and education.

Mauritius is considered among the most business-friendly countries in Africa. However, the Non-Citizen Property Restriction Act limits most noncitizens from owning or acquiring property. Corruption can hamper business activity.

The government generally does not limit social freedoms, and same-sex relations were decriminalized in October 2023. Rape is against the law, but spousal rape is not specifically criminalized. Domestic violence is illegal but remains a significant concern.

Women and children are vulnerable to sex trafficking. In its 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, the US Department of State found that the country did not meet the minimum standards needed to eliminate trafficking.

The position of migrant workers in the manufacturing and construction sectors can be precarious. Mauritian labor rights advocacy organizations have claimed that the government rollback of labor protection laws in response to COVID-19 led to more exploitation of migrant workers.

While Mauritius enjoys a comparatively high, and growing, gross domestic product, inequality has soared in recent years. The World Bank has warned that failing to implement growth strategies that prioritize the poor will contribute to a significant widening of inequality through 2030.