The Mauritian Socialist Party (, PSM) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It inc ...

History

The ''Parti Socialiste Mauricien'' (PSM) was founded by then Labour MP Harish Boodhoo on 16 September 1979 as a splinter group who were expelled from the Labour Party. The other Labour MPs who formed the party were Rohit Beedassy and Radha Gungoosingh. Other prominent members of the PSM were Jocelyn Seenyen, Armoogum Parsooraman and Kishore Deerpalsing. Prior to the formation of PSM Harish Boodhoo served as a Labour-CAM-PMSD MP from 1976 to 1979 where he repeatedly criticized actions of his own government. The main targets of his criticism were Minister of Finance

Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo, GCMG, GCSK, QC, (born Vīracāmi Riṅkāṭu; 20 October 1920 – 9 September 2000) was a Mauritian politician, minister, the sixth and last governor-general of Mauritius from 1986 to 1992, and then the first presi ...

and two sitting ministers Lutchmeeparsad Badry (Social Security) and Gyandeo Dabee (Cooperatives). These two ministers were forced to resign in May 1979 following a commission of enquiry which was initiated in 1978 to address corruption allegations. The newly formed PSM held its first public meeting at ''Place du Quai'' in Port Louis and it was attended by around 4000 people. The leaders announced that it would adopt white as its official colour as it would be neither have a leftist strategy, nor would it adopt a philosophy of the right. New followers who publicly announced their membership of the party were Floryse Lamy (school teacher), Alain Coosnapen (mechanic at Highlands Sugar Estate), Allan Bhagmania (from Réunion Sugar Estate), Subash Ramdahen and Satianund Pahladi (councillors from Moka-Flacq). In 1982 the PSM formed a coalition with Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) which won the June 1982 General Elections. Harish Boodhoo became Deputy Prime Minister in the MMM-PSM government led by Prime Minister Aneerood Jugnauth. Within a few months of the 1982 elections there was disagreement within the ruling MMM-PSM coalition. Military intervention by India, in the form of Operation Lal Dora, had also nearly occurred as Finance Minister

Paul Bérenger Paul Raymond Bérenger GCSK, MP (born 26 March 1945) is a Mauritian politician who was Prime Minister of Mauritius from 2003 to 2005. He has been Leader of the Opposition on several occasions – from 1983 to 1987, 1997 to 2000, 2005 to 200 ...

undermined his leader

Anerood Jugnauth Sir Anerood Jugnauth, GCSK, PV, (29 March 1930 – 3 June 2021) was a Mauritian politician and barrister who served both as President and Prime Minister of Mauritius. He was Member of Parliament for Piton & Riviere Du Rempart. A central ...

and Deputy PM Harish Boodhoo. Bérenger was even suspected to be preparing to overthrow PM Jugnauth. These led to the departure of

and other elected members from MMM as he formed a new party MSM. By May 1983 Harish Boodhoo had dissolved his party PSM to enable all PSM parliamentarians to merge into the Jugnauth's new party MSM, thus enabling them to remain in power whilst distancing themselves from Paul Bérenger and his party MMM.

References

Political parties in Mauritius Socialist parties in Mauritius {{Africa-party-stub