Lalit Calls for 106 MPs, Secular State and Kreol in Parliament

The Mauritian left-wing political party Lalit has submitted a set of detailed proposals for constitutional reform, calling for significant changes to how the country is governed, how Parliament operates, and what values the state officially upholds.

Among the most headline-grabbing recommendations is a proposal to increase the number of seats in the National Assembly from the current 70 to 106. Lalit argues that a larger legislature would improve democratic representation across the island and reduce the dominance of the executive branch over elected members.

At the same time, the party wants to see a reduction in the number of ministers in Cabinet. In Mauritius, critics have long argued that the size of the Cabinet gives the Prime Minister excessive patronage power and creates an oversized government relative to the country's population of around 1.3 million. Lalit's proposal would trim this down to create a leaner, more accountable executive.

One of the more culturally significant proposals concerns language. Lalit is calling for Mauritian Kreol, the native tongue spoken by the vast majority of the population in daily life, to be officially recognised and permitted for use in Parliament. Currently, parliamentary proceedings are conducted in English and French. Advocates for Kreol argue that excluding it from formal institutions creates a barrier between citizens and their representatives.

Lalit is also calling for Mauritius to be declared a secular state. The current constitution does not establish an official religion, but critics argue that state funding and recognition of religious bodies gives certain faiths a privileged role in public life. A formal declaration of secularism would, in Lalit's view, place all religious communities on an equal footing and separate religious affairs more clearly from government decisions.

Other proposals from the party reportedly include reforms to the electoral system and measures to strengthen the independence of key public institutions.

These proposals come at a moment when constitutional reform is actively being debated in Mauritius. The government and several other parties are also putting forward their own visions for updating the 1968 constitution, which has not undergone comprehensive revision since independence.

What this means: If adopted, Lalit's proposals would represent one of the most transformative overhauls of Mauritian democracy since independence. A larger Parliament, a smaller Cabinet, Kreol as an official legislative language, and a secular state declaration would each affect how power is distributed, how citizens engage with institutions, and how the country defines its identity. While Lalit is a smaller party without current parliamentary representation, its proposals feed into a broader national conversation that is now formally underway.

Source: Le Defi Media