Mauritius's opposition alliance led by Navin Ramgoolam kicked out the Indian Ocean island's first post-independence white prime minister on Monday in an election dominated by economic troubles. "My mission now is to make life better," Ramgoolam told a cheering crowd clad in the red colours of his party at a victory rally in his Tricolet constituency. "Now we need the unity of all the country. Together we will modernise Mauritius." Final results from Sunday's poll gave the opposition Social Alliance a bigger-than-expected 38 seats in the 62-seat parliament, according to Reuters. In an election that most predicted would be closer, outgoing Prime Minister Paul Berenger's ruling coalition won 22 seats. The remaining two seats went to the Rodrigues People's Organisation on the neighbouring island of Rodrigues. "It is a democracy and I accept the verdict of the electorate," Berenger said in his concession speech. Ramgoolam, 57, a doctor and lawyer who is the son of the first post-independence prime minister and a former leader himself between 1995 and 2000, inherits a tough portfolio. Rising inflation and unemployment have fuelled discontent among the poor, while there are big threats to the sugar and textile industries that have been the mainstay of the island's relative prosperity compared with the rest of Africa.
