General elections were held in Mauritius in 1891.

Electoral system

The 1885 constitution provided for a 28-member Legislative Council, which consisted of the Governor, 12 officials, 5 appointed members and 10 elected members.[1] The ten elected members were returned from nine constituencies formed from the nine districts, which all districts returning one member except Port Louis, which returned two.[2]

The franchise for the elections was severely limited; the right to vote was restricted to people with Rs300 of immovable property or movable property worth Rs3,000, a monthly salary of Rs50, those paying rent of Rs25 a month or paying a licence duty of at Rs200 a year. People married to eligible voters, or the oldest son of a qualifying widow were also entitled to vote. As a result, although the population of Mauritius was around 370,000, only 5,164 people were eligible to vote, of which just 401 were Asian.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Sydney Selvon (2012) A New Comprehensive History of Mauritius: From British Mauritius to the 21st century
  2. ↑ Constitutional Evolution of Mauritius from British rule to Independence Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine Government of Mauritius
  3. ↑ Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Dieter Nohlen & Klaus Landfried (1978) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band II: Afrika, Zweiter Halbband, p1394
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