The same personal attacks, the same hitting below the belt, the same filthy language in public meetings, the same ethnic arguments to draw a crowd and convince, the same recourse to casteism in the choice and imposition of candidates on the electorate. Nothing has changed, frankly speaking.

Buses are provided free of charge to people to attend public meetings; food, drink and hard cash are lavishly given and the parties then vociferously and pompously claim they have so many sympathisers.

Well, when you offer people free buses and free food and drink to attend your public meetings and claim that you are fully confident you are numerically strong and therefore unbeatable, that there is no doubt about winning the elections, who, in fact, are you fooling?

Everyone knows that many who accept free transport and free meals to attend public meetings are mere opportunists. Everyone knows that, except politicians. And don?t tell me that candidates are spending only what is legally permitted. As in previous elections, a stupendous amount of money is being circulated, though all kind of excuses will be put forward by the candidates to deny this.

Money counts. You don?t win an election on the basis of flowery promises. Agents and others are not there to sweat it out day and night, in the knowledge that, once a candidate wins, he is guaranteed a substantial amount in the span of five years in terms of salary and other benefits. Agents clamour for their own share. Yes they do. The moment you don?t circulate money around, forget about being elected.

And then what is said in public is not necessarily what is said in private. This doubletalk reveals that nothing much has changed in the mentality of our politicians. It?s the same age-old reflexes at work. Again.

<B>Reason to despair</B>

We would have expected our politicians to tell us in clear specific, accurate terms their intentions, their projects, their vision. However, politicians have a knack of talking in vague and general terms. The vaguer they are, the more, it seems, they are applauded, admired and adulated. There?s reason to despair.

The 2005 elections are characterised by a flagrant absence of major ideas from candidates. We have yet to hear about the real issues facing Mauritius ? globalisation, unemployment, sugar, tourism, education, textile, women empowerment together with the dire need for reviewing the unflattering image of women projected in adverts, corruption, consumerism, the chaotic transport system, etc.

We need politicians with ideas and arguments and proposals that will inspire, instil hope and confidence in the future, reassure, and motivate. ?Vote for me now, we?ll see later? seems to the stand of our politicians. This is regrettable. This is a paucity of fresh ideas, new insights and new proposals, and may well explain why politicians are wary of a debate worth its name on television. It would, I think, be downright catastrophic - a rehash of the same worn-out, hollow arguments and wrinkled generalities ? a poor show indeed.

Don?t tell me we are growing up, we are mature? The moment people thrust their sense of objectivity firmly to the bottom of their pockets and suck in everything they are told by politicians, the moment they allow themselves to be swayed by their rhetoric and demagogy, then, there is something to regret.

Free and fair elections? We must have gone mad to believe this. You see, the minute a voter is literally influenced, urged, begged, coerced to vote this way or that through an offer of facilities or gifts coupled with money, this concept of free and fair elections remains, for me at least, something of a joke. Electronic voting might have given en edge to these elections, but we will still have to wait for many years, apparently.

<B>Suresh RAMPHUL</B>