by Dr Dreewin RITTOO

A wind of change blows over our republic. Our respected Supreme Court ruled against the Electoral Commission in a matter of electoral rights. Another mauritian ?Berlin Wall? has collapsed. That historic event has ignited a democratic enthusiasm in the intelligent minds of citizens of this country once again. It seems that this is the real ?kick off? of the forthcoming electoral event. Questions are being repeatedly asked as to when will be the electoral reform. It is fascinating that our democratic attitudes have outweighed our existing electoral system and above all The Best Loser System. Will it then die a natural death? Political and social History showed that there no such thing as a natural death in its realm. Major political and social changes are always forced by the people, to topple injustice democratically.

However, Democracy is not enough in a country of Law and Order like ours. We need the machinery of legislation.Our electors will be called,shortly, to vote for the one who can, among other things, settle for a new electoral system which will be in phase with the will of the people. Those involved in political games should no longer be within the hearts of the people with a modern Mauritian attitude.And those with no cultural frontiers should hold the key to electoral victory.It is a boon that ongoing radio-cast political debates are sieving them in the minds of electors.New electoral procedures should consider public debate between the outgoing Prime Minister and the Challenger such that we have a meeting of minds rather than electoral adversaries or political enemies , for debate is the essence of Politics.And that is most lacking prior to considering electoral reforms.We had reports. We had statistics from ?local experts? and amusingly, suggested numbers about distributions of ministers and pps and so on per constituency from ?semi experts?. What we really need in the first place , is a guiding philosophy acting as a normative ideal from which we can take our electoral bearings .Only then can we set for navigation through the turbulent sea of technical details and obstacles. In that perspective ,the vote should go to the leader whose ?winning formula? is navigation by ideals.

The forthcoming elections will be a turning point in our history. Unlike others in the preceding decade , the stake , at the social level, is the emphasis of a plural and united nation born out of democratic and meritocratic State , motivated by men and women with selfless political ideals .There are some who believe that a homogeneous team, in the ideological sense, is the right one to expand these ideals.This is no longer so. Mauritius is a State of diversity with a tradition of freedom of expressions. Divergence of opinions is inevitable but it illustrates active democracy. The World itself is in a state of rapidly shifting array of political order and economic globalization between heterogeneous ideologies.Our choice therefore falls for a leadership of this country whose aim is to recapture the abilities of valuable men and women,though of divergent opinions and to harmonize those differences on national levels. This art of harmonization in leadership, befitting our growing social and economic democracy , is a prerequisite for favourable home and diplomatic affairs in keeping with concepts of diversity and globalization.Our vote will thus be a movement from narrow perception to broader ideas of future social democratic expansion and cross- fertilization of international friendships with our national interest.

The common man always talks about Injustice and not of Justice. He despises the reality where men are provided with jobs at the expense of his other jobless fellow countrymen. He feels diminished at the thought that some countrymen could have a better living had they been on the ?right? political side. He is misled into believing that ?Justice? is simply a masterpiece of political tactics. Helpless,he would use a higher conscience?s justice in conflict with existing laws to rationalize his actions and that he calls his ?natural right? .Rejection of this right is a kind of self internal emigration. This upsets our notion of a modern state towards which we are steering.Our future government thus needs to set the scene such that people do not have to use any of their ?natural right? , but enjoy tolerance in their private life and yet stick to the Law in public life.So it?s indirectly a vote for ?Big Brother? named ?Justice? , not out of sympathy but on principle, thereby influencing the common man?s meaning of the human condition.

Politics is talk.Not just sentimental talk such as ?40,000 unemployed? or ? Rs 1 billion investments? which inspires fear or awe.The enlightened elector seeks also the rationale of the parties? politics .He wants to make his own inferences from points of reference that parties? philosophy provides, and to measure talk with ideals. He votes for the future.