Mauritius opposition leader Ramgoolam sworn in as PM after election rout

By Villen Anganan

Veteran Mauritian politician Navin Ramgoolam was sworn in as prime minister for his fourth term on Wednesday, a decade after he last left power, following his coalition's dramatic triumph in a general election.

His Alliance du Changement (ADC) coalition won a landslide 60 of the 62 national assembly seats with 62.6% of votes in Sunday's ballot.

Ramgoolam took the oath of office during a brief ceremony at State House, the official residence of President Prithvirajsing Roopun, in front of a selection of lawmakers, foreign diplomats and top civil servants.

Afterwards the 77-year-old Ramgoolam, who previously served as prime minister from 1995 to 2000 and 2005 to 2014, told reporters that the country had voted with rage, and that he intended to transform it.

"There is a communion between us and the people. We will work to lift the country from the hell," he said.

In 2006, Ramgoolam launched a programme to cut bureaucracy and simplify taxes in order to diversify the $10 billion economy from tourism, textiles and sugar exports.

Since then country of about 1.3 million people, which markets itself as a link between Africa and Asia, has grown as an offshore financial centre and been consistently ranked the easiest place to do business in Africa by the World Bank.

Despite steering the Indian Ocean archipelago to 7.0% economic growth last year, outgoing Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth's popularity appeared to have been badly dented by a cost of living crisis and corruption allegations.

Last month Jugnauth, who had been in office since 2017, negotiated an agreement for Britain to cede the Chagos Islands while retaining the U.S.-British Diego Garcia air base.