The die is far from being cast. Neither of the two alliances can pretend they are heading towards a certain victory. Less than two weeks from polling day, quite a high proportion of the electorate doesn’t seem to know yet whom they are going to trust with their vote. Some go as far as saying they cannot trust anyone.

They want to be sure the next prime minister will be able to deal with the major risks coming from abroad – particularly sugar and textile issues – while guaranteeing to all citizens a decent living standard.

On the one hand, there is an opposition, which has not stopped making promises but which has only proved that it could not handle the future of Mauritius while it was in power. The only chance for the social alliance to regain power is to convince the population that Navin Ramgoolam has changed during his five years in the opposition.

The would-be PM will have to show that he is mature enough to guarantee a thriving economy – as thriving as possible in these tough times – and a stable social situation. He will also have to prove that his motley team can support him as leader and deliver the goods in a patriotic manner. With six parties in one single alliance, Ramgoolam still has to convince that those six parties share the same ideology and that the government will not go to pieces in a few months. When he has convinced the undecided he can guarantee that, then this might be the only chance he has of being entrusted with the future of the country for the next five years…

The other issue is that the electorate could on 3rd July cast a vote of discontent. It could be a way of telling the outgoing government that they have been cruelly disappointing and have not met expectations for a majority of discerning people. Most of those who gave the MSM-MMM alliance a nearly 60-0 vote in 2000 thought the “saviour of poor people” deserved the chance to keep the promises he had been making since 1968.

Instead, Paul Bérenger has moulded himself into the political system. He has given in to all lobbies – ethnic, political, economic – leaving only bitter feelings in former ardent supporters and the public at large that his only wish was to stay in power.

There is absolutely no doubt that the government has a lot to show for its five years in office. Considering the several setbacks they had to face on the international scene, they haven’t done so badly and have even proved to be successful in certain fields. Education and ICT have undoubtedly made gigantic steps. Though there is still room for improvement, the government has had the merit of seizing the bull by the horns in these two fields despite the ‘aggravation’ expressed in traditional set-ups.

But economic advances in fields like ICT are of little interest to those who do not eat their fill everyday. Do those people care about the fact that a second – or even a third – cyber tower will be erected soon? In the long run, all of us will take advantage of the spin-offs of ICT but ordinary citizens see only the short-term and want to be able to feed their families tomorrow and the day after… This is where Paul Bérenger has erred...

In his early political career, he said everyone would be equally fed if he came to power. But ironically his term of office has been marked with a rise in the cost of living and no major wage increase… Hence, how can people still trust him?

Yet, it seems some are ready to give him a second chance… Not because they want to give him that chance but because they wish to know what he will say if he doesn’t manage to keep his promises with five more years in power! PM Bérenger is pleading for a second term and the necessary time to fill all the gaps…

If he were re-elected, he would have to keep in mind that the population is waiting to catch him out… And nobody will give him the opportunity to rest on his laurels!