Electoral Campaign - Conventional or Campaign 2.0 ? #Mauritius

The dissolution of the assembly having been announced already, the parliamentary elections are close. The date, however, has not yet been disclosed. Being a fine strategist, the prime minister probably will take his time to disclose the date. 

But why? 

Simply because first he wanted to see if people are happy with his alliance with the ex-leader of the opposition and if the same people would be joining their ranks in number. It did NOT happen. To date, on a scale of probability, it seems around half of the population is still undecided on which side to support. 

Second, due to the high number of candidates since both parties can have 60 candidates, a lot of talking needs to be done to avoid any frustrations and to give "guarantees" to some !. So it seems.

Who are the contenders to the parliamentary seats ?

The lists of candidates and parties have not yet been publicly declared but here are some who seem to be going for the elections:

• FSM
• JEUNE PATRIOTE MAURICIEN
• LALIT
• MAM
• MMSD
• MSM - PMSD - ML
• PARTI JUSTICE SOCIALE - UNION POPULAIRE
• PARTI MALIN
• PTR - MMM
• REZISTANCE EK ALTERNATIVE
• THE LIBERALS

This time, the political campaign seems to be quite lively with the emerging parties mushrooming these days. 

Some of those are known to be active only during the political campaign while some others are lead by some individuals who are known to be like tomatoes jumping in all sauces for some fame.

A political campaign if we boil it down to the essentials is NOT about banners / flags / alliances / personal attacks / distribution of money / re-surfacing of roads.

If we boil it down to the essentials, what are the elements we need in order to take the decision on which party we need to cast our votes?

We need creative ideas on how the political party will better our day to day life

We need to know what they will do for us, as a nation, during their mandate

We need to see who of those people we can trust

We need to see who of those people we think can administrate our ministries or provide for a true opposition in order and who will maintain its grounds and not join sides with the government

We need to know whether the parties we wish to vote are not asking votes only to take the power

Are the people requesting our votes reliable enough to represent our voice at the national parliament?

So many questions we need to answer ourselves to know if in our constituency we have people who are credible to be voted.

If we do NOT have anyone credible enough, what can we do ?

NOT VOTE ? No - This is the worst we could ever do. 

What we need to do, is to be a candidate ourselves. Even, if it is only to show the way forward and to help others to emerge. 

We are in 2014, we can no more tolerate people putting banners / tagging walls / gluing paper on our walls / putting plastic banners everywhere, etc.. We need in 2014 a modern campaign.

The people have shown their disinterest in conventional campaign by not attending the meetings of the ptr-mmm and msm-pmsd-ml.

I will end with the following lines:

It is during times like those, that we see patriots take a stand, that we feel the wind of change blowing, that we hold our breathes for a miracle. The miracle is US. Let us make it happen. - Ashfaq - 2014

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1st May in Mauritius

Unlike the past years where thousands would attend the usual labor day meetings of political parties to obtain some bryani, money, or to show their love for their respective political parties, this year the biggest political parties decided not to make any political meetings due mainly to the fact that they are still not sure with whom they want to make an alliance with. 

Unlike the previous years, we wanted to check out the Mouvment 1er Mai which made its political meeting near the police station at Beau Bassin. The Mouvman premier mai allows political observers to share their views on the current issues in Mauritius and to take the mic on the platform.

It was mostly the type of gathering where you can bring your family and walk around, .. well that's what we did and it was very pleasant. 

Anyways, here are some pictures:

Not many people are actually into going to meetings on the 1st of May .. Maybe all parties and movements should cancel those. Just Wondering !!! 

Nitin Chinien V/S MBC/PTR/MASA - ABUS

Nitin Chinien appeared in a video yesterday on Youtube where he states that he is a whistle blower (since when actually! no offense intended) a.k.a lom danzerer (this sounds a bit theatrical)! that mbc shouldn't have messed with and that the police should have taken care of his file and very unfortunate that his file took fire ! And he intends to seek indemnity/compensation/whatever. And he gives all the others 14 days in order to compensate him and he was apparently 2 years without any jobs.

   

The most obvious questions anyone would like to ask here are the following:

• Will his fight stop once he is paid his indemnity of some rs2millions and his unpaid salaries amounting to rs800k ?
• Will his fight stop if he is given back his job at the MBC tv ?
• Is his fight only for himself or will he take the place and duty that was destined to him and become one the remembered ones like his father? 

All those questions can only be answered by himself and we cannot but wait and see what he is up to ! ... This video, however, is going to go viral on the mauritian social sphere and the consequences are difficult to forecast ! 

Free Alain Bertrand! Free Mauritius

Alain Bertrand, an activist for the association Azir Moris, has been arrested for trying to deploy a banner with "NO TO COAL" written on it. This action was supposed to raise awareness of the population with regards to the project of the construction of a coal powered plant in Albion. This project is regarded as a threat to the environment by many ecologists locally and abroad. 

Already 3 days that Alain Bertrand is being detained in police custody and the police opposed his appeal to obtain a caution. He will be remanded to police cell until the 20th of March until the next court hearing.

At this stage, we cannot remain insensible to the plight of this man who only wanted to raise awareness about the protection of the environment which is important for everyone living on the island as we are all on the same ship. 

We understand the concerns of the authority that the Mauritian flag should not be disrespected and as patriots we feel that the Mauritian flag has been used with a lot of disrespect while been held under an helicopter for the Independence day or when a parachutist had it attached in his back, it is not to be used like a mantle. 

We strongly feel that it is adding insult to injury that is remanding him to police cell while criminals and others are given caution and liberty on parole as the man has shown that his type of protest is a pacific one and had absolutely no intentions of hurting people or disrupting public order. 

I, therefore, urge the population and the concerned authorities to liberate this fighter for the nature on humanitarian grounds as his intentions were only to safeguard the nature for ourselves and our children. I urge my dear readers to lobby for the release of Alain Bertrand. If, like us, you feel that he deserves to be a Free Man and that we need a Free Mauritius where pacific protests can take place, copy the picture below and share it on your facebook and with your friends.