Indian-origin Anerood Jugnauth elected as Mauritius' new PM

A veteran politician and former President and Prime Minister, Anerood Jugnauth was officially announced as the new prime minister of Mauritius on December 15, 2014.

Leader of the Alliance Lepep party, Anerood Jugnauth, 84, who is of Indian origin, was handed his letter of appointment at a meeting at State House. The appointment came one day after the resignation of former prime minister Navin Ramgoolam, who lost in the polls.

Ramgoolam was serving his third term as the prime minister since 2005.

As per the official data, Jugnauth's centre-right Alliance Lepep swept 47 out of 62 seats in the Indian Ocean nation's Parliament, after voters rejected the ruling party's bid to boost presidential powers.

Jugnauth was received at the State House on December 14, 2014 and was handed the official letter from President Kailash Purryag to form his government.

Jugnauth has served as the president from 2003 to 2012 and previously he was the prime minister of Mauritius from 1982 to 1995 and again from 2000 to 2003.

The country has had only four prime ministers in its history.

About one million Mauritians went to the polls conducted in December 2014. The polls this year are considered one of the most crucial since the islands gained independence from Britain in 1968.

Mauritius is one of the richest countries in Africa, a middle-income country of some 1.3 million people, with a per capita GDP of just over $9,000. People of Indian origin comprise around 68 percent of Mauritius's total population of over 1.3 million.

Most of them are descendants of labourers who were brought in the 19th century to the early 20th century to work in the sugarcane plantations.