By Tim Cocks
Port Louis - Votes were being counted in Mauritius on Monday after Sunday's close electoral race between the ruling and main opposition parties, in which both promised to lead the economy through its toughest test in decades.
Opposition Social Alliance leader Navin Ramgoolam ran neck-and-neck with Prime Minister Paul Berenger's ruling coalition in a campaign that appealed to the poor at a time when the Indian Ocean island's major sugar and textiles industries are under threat.
Ballots were collected on Sunday from all over the tropical island of 1,2 million people and 2 040km2 - a major tourist hub of volcanic mountains and sandy beaches with coral reefs off its coast.
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Of the nearly 820 000 registered voters, 81 percent turned out in drizzly weather to cast their ballots in the diverse island of ethnic Indians, Afro-Creoles and the descendants of French colonists.
More than 650 candidates are vying for 62 seats in the national assembly. Final results are expected late on Monday.
Election observers hailed the vote as exemplary, despite citing sporadic violence including an incident in which a ruling party official threatened voters at a polling station.
Economic worries dominated the run-up to the election, which took place amid complaints of rising inflation and unemployment linked to a double blow to Mauritius' economy - deep cuts in European Union sugar subsidies and fierce competition from China's textile manufacturers.
The contest was largely seen as a race between Berenger, the Indian Ocean island's first non-Hindu prime minister, and Ramgoolam, the son of the first post-independence premier.
Ramgoolam has appealed to the poor to kick out a government he accuses of betraying them in favour of a dynastic business elite, seen by many as descendants of French colonialists.
The government accuses Ramgoolam of stoking "racial hatred" amongst the Hindu majority against wealthy Franco-Mauritians.
Berenger's ruling Militant Socialist Movement - Mauritian Militant Movement appealed on the government's record on macroeconomic stability and attempts to diversify the economy, such as building a "cybercity" technology hub.
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