Now that the ruling alliance has published its official list of candidates for the forthcoming general elections, all attention is focused on the opposition. Its leader, Navin Ramgoolam, has stated several times that he would give the names of his candidates as soon as the government does so. Although there seems to be much tension among the partners, opposition and Social alliance leader seemed to have come to an agreement. The press was officially announced yesterday that his list would be made public today at 3.30 pm.

The opposition parties seem to have had a tough time coming to this agreement. Navin Ramgoolam, the Labour party leader, has made it clear that the driving force and senior partner of the Social alliance was Labour. As a result, he is keeping the majority of tickets for his candidates. The fact is that his partners – there are five of them – also want to have their candidates in as many constituencies as possible. This might be the reason why Navin Ramgoolam is finding it so hard to finalise his list.

It was decided that 20 candidates among the 60 would come from the “minor parties” and the remaining 40 from Labour. The biggest problem is to identify the 20 candidates and, more importantly, which Labour candidates have to be left aside to make space for the candidates of the other parties.

After it was said that former Finance minister, Vishnu Luchmeenaraidoo, had finally withdrawn from the race, rumours are now rife about his possible candidature. The Labour leader was yet said to be shilly-shallying with his application because Luchmeenaraidoo’s conditions were unacceptable. We should be settled this afternoon.

<B>After saying how successful and providential their accession to power has been for the country, they insisted on the number of new faces and women on the list </B>

Navin Ramgoolam has remained very discreet on his candidates’ names and on the number of seats he would allocate to his partners. Last Saturday, at his press conference, everyone was expecting precisions on his list of candidates but it was in vain. He admitted there was some pressure within the alliance over the distribution of tickets but he didn’t unveil the mystery.

He contented himself with strong criticism against the government and threatened the latter about eventual “electoral bribery”. He also wanted to “warn all public officers who follow instructions blindly.” He added that, if he comes to power, he would punish all officers who appeared to have been accomplices in such fraud.

Likewise, he castigated the communication campaign of the minister of Education, Steven Obeegadoo, in celebration of his four-year reform. “How can they use State funds to finance a partisan campaign? How can they speak of free and fair elections?”

The ruling alliance, on the other hand, has adopted a softer tone. Rather than castigating the opposition (in its usual manner), they concentrated on their session of self-congratulation before presenting their candidates at a major press conference in Domaine Les Pailles.

After saying how successful and providential their accession to power has been for the country, they insisted on the number of new faces and women on the list (yet, nine women candidates are far from the SADC figure of 33%). The new candidates will bring new blood and a new vision if the government is re-elected on 3rd July. But history has proved that the name of somebody doesn’t make him/her a good politician even if he/she comes from a family of talented politicians. So, we can only wait and see if they prove up to expectations.

Some “old hands” have had to be left out to make space for the younger generation. But they (at least apparently) don’t seem disappointed or hurt. In fact, many of them have been promised some sort of “compensation” and most probably don’t complain. For example, Ivan Collendavelloo has accepted to step down in favour of Françoise Labelle in Vacoas-Floréal but he has had the commitment from Paul Bérenger himself that he will become Attorney General if the MSM-MMM gets back into power.

Two tickets still have to be allocated in two constituencies and the issue is still uncertain. In Port-Louis – Montagne Longue, the government has not yet chosen between Jane Joannis, the high commissioner in Canberra (that would bring the number of women to 10) and Gérard Grivon. In Pamplemousses-Triolet, the ruling alliance is waiting for the court verdict on Dev Hurnam’s case to finalise the candidature.