Navin Ramgoolam

In the 1800s his ancestors migrated to Mauritius from Harigaon in Bhojpur district, Bihar.

Navin is married to Veena Ramgoolam.

Navinchandra Ramgoolam, GCSK, FRCP (born 14 July 1947), is a Mauritian politician who twice served as the Prime Minister of Mauritius and leader of the Labour Party (Mauritius).

Navin Ramgoolam was born on 14 July 1947 to Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (SSR) and Sushil Ramjoorawon at their Desforges Street residence in Port Louis.

SSR was the 6th Governor General of Mauritius, as well as the first Chief Minister and Prime Minister of Mauritius.

He attended the Royal College Curepipe from 1960 to 1966 and proceeded to study medicine in Ireland between 1968 and 1975, where he obtained the LRCP&SI licentiates from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

When his father SSR died in December 1985, Ramgoolam was on the point of immigrating to Canada when Sir Satcam Boolell (then leader of Labour Party) and Paul Berenger (the leader of the Mauritian Militant Movement) convinced him to return and assume the leadership of the Labour party with the objective of an alliance which would defeat Anerood Jugnauth in the general elections.

He subsequently served as a medical doctor at Dr A.G Jeetoo Hospital in Mauritius from 1985 to 1987.

In 1987, he started his law studies at The London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London.

Upon completion of his LLB degree in 1990, he returned to Mauritius to face the electorate as the new leader of the Labour Party in the 1991 general election.

He was Leader of the Opposition from 1991 to 1995.

The leadup to the general elections held in 1991 saw a realignment of the country's major political parties.

The Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM), which had been the main opposition party, decided to contest the election as an ally of Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth's Militant Socialist Movement (MSM).

Ramgoolam's Labour Party and Gaëtan Duval's Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD), both of which had been allied with the MSM in the previous election, formed a separate alliance, along with the Rodrigues People's Organisation (OPR).

A major campaign issue was the proposal of the MSM-MMM alliance to cut the country's ties with the British Monarchy and declare a republic with a President as head of state.

Ramgoolam opposed this, arguing that the Presidential office would be too ceremonial, leaving all executive powers effectively in the hands of the Prime Minister.

The election turned out to be a landslide for Jugnauth.

The MSM/MMM alliance won 57 of the 62 directly elected seats.

Of the 5 seats won by Ramgoolam's alliance, 2 were held by the OPR and 3 by his own Labour Party (Arvin Boolell, Vasant Bunwaree and himself, being elected in constituency 5, Triolet & Pamplemoussess).

Following his defeat, he took leave as Leader of the Opposition and returned to London to complete his law vocational course at Inns of Court School of Law.

He was called to United Kingdom Bar, Inner Temple in 1993.

In 1993, Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth asked the Speaker of the National Assembly to declare Ramgoolam's seat vacant as he had not attended Parliament for three consecutive moments.

The Speaker referred the case to the Court but the Judge found that it was unconstitutional.

Shortly afterwards, Jugnauth dismissed Bérenger from the Cabinet after learning that Ramgoolam had hosted him at a private dinner at his Riverwalk residence.

Bérenger and 10 MMM members joined Ramgoolam on the opposition benches.

Although the MMM caucus was larger than the Labour Party caucus, he agreed to let Ramgoolam continue as Leader of the Opposition.

The Labour Party and the MMM went on to forge an alliance to contest the 1995 elections.

The alliance won all 60 directly elected seats from the mainland (with Labour taking 35 seats and the MMM 25).

Ramgoolam became Prime Minister with Bérenger as his Deputy.

The coalition soon fractured and Ramgoolam dismissed Bérenger in 1997.

Bérenger then became Leader of the Opposition and Ramgoolam formed a one-party government.

Jugnauth and Bérenger formed a new alliance to contest the 2000 elections.

Part of the agreement was to allow Jugnauth to serve for the first three years of the five-year term, then resign to assume the Presidency and allow Bérenger to complete his unexpired term.

Ramgoolam, for his part, formed an alliance with the Mauritian Party of Xavier-Luc Duval (PMXD), a breakaway from the PMSD led by Xavier-Luc Duval, the son of Sir Gaëtan Duval.

The MSM/MMM alliance won 54 of the 60 directly elected mainland seats.

Ramgoolam, who had retained his own seat, became Leader of the Opposition.

His Alliance Social won the general elections against the MSM/MMM outgoing government.

He served as Prime Minister for the first time from December 1995 until September 2000, and then became Leader of the Opposition again from October 2000 to 4 July 2005.

On 5 July 2005, he became prime minister for a second term after his coalition, "Alliance Sociale" won the general elections.

He was re-elected Prime Minister in 2005, serving till 2014, when he was defeated.