Port Louis, Mauritius - Voters in the Indian Ocean island-nation of Mauritius cast their ballots in parliamentary elections after a campaign in which the governing coalition and the main opposition alliance ran a close race.
Mauritians streamed to polling stations on Sunday to cast their votes for 62 members of parliament.
About 640 candidates were contesting the elections. Eight more deputies will be nominated to represent ethnic minorities and complete Mauritius' 70-member parliament.
Final results were to be announced on Monday afternoon.
Ali Bahoo, deputy chief commissioner of the Electoral Commission of Mauritius, said on state-owned Mauritius Broadcasting, that voting ended at 6pm as scheduled. He said voter turnout was about 80 percent of the 817 000 registered voters.
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Bahoo said voting went smoothly except in one constituency where guns were fired, but no casualties were reported or arrests made. In another constituency, he said, there was a tussle between supporters of the governing and main opposition coalitions.
The election pits Prime Minister Paul Berenger's political alliance of the Mauritian Militant Movement and deputy prime minister Pravind Jugnauth's Militant Socialist Movement against an opposition alliance led by Navin Ramgoolam of the Labour Party.
In an opinion poll published three weeks ago, Berenger's alliance had the support of 24 percent of those surveyed, while Ramgoolam's alliance had 20 percent. Forty-two percent of people were undecided.
The effect of world trade rules on Mauritius has been the focus of the campaign, with the opposition alliance criticising the Berenger government's policies, saying they have only made a handful of Mauritian business-people wealthy at the expense of tens of thousands of people who have lost their jobs in the key textiles and sugar industries.
However, Berenger's coalition has said that Ramgoolam did little to prepare Mauritius for changes in world trade rules when he was prime minister between 1995 and 2000, and has not offered any alternative policies.
Berenger and his allies have defended their policies saying that they have made the island nation better able to compete in world markets and that Mauritius has been at the forefront of pressing for changes in world trade rules for the benefit of small island economies.
They argue that Mauritius also needs to expand its economy from traditional activities such as tourism and sugar, which is why the Berenger government has focused on developing Mauritius into a regional hub of information technology. -
Sapa-AP
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