Cap sur Maurice Destination Immobilier - Edition 2019 Edition 2019 | Page 33

MAURITIUS ISLAND DISCOVERY

History

Constitutional Development
On the constitutional level , the Council of Government , created in 1825 , was enlarged in 1886 to accommodate elected representatives . The new Council included 10 members elected by restricted suffrage . It was not until 1933 that the constitution was again significantly amended . The proportion of nominated Council members not holding public office was increased to two-thirds . However , the right to vote remained restricted to persons of a certain social class and proprietors . In 1948 , there was a major change when after years of protracted negotiations for a more liberal constitution , the right to vote was extended to any adult who could pass a basic literacy test .
That year , the Council of Government was replaced by a Legislative Council composed of 19 elected members , 12 members appointed by the Governor and three ex-officio members . General elections were held in August 1948 and the first Legislative Council convened on 1 September 1948 .
Following constitutional conferences held in London in 1955 and 1957 , the Westminster ministerial system was put in place , and general elections were held on 9 March 1959 . For the first time , they were held on the basis of the universal adult suffrage principle and the number of voters was 208,684 . In 1961 , a constitutional review conference was held in London and a constitution improvement programme was established . It was followed in 1965 by the last constitutional conference which paved Mauritius ’ way to independence .
After the general elections of 1967 , Mauritius adopted a new constitution and its Independence was proclaimed on March 12 , 1968 . It acquired the status of Republic 24 years later , on 12 March 1992 .
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