Government of MauritiusHistorically Mauritius has been occupied by the Dutch, the French and the British Crowns, before being able to pursue general elections and form their own government. The Dutch occupation during the late 1600´s was short, of 20 years only and wasn´t so memorable if it were not because of the "introduction of sugar-cane, domestic animals and deer." After the Dutch, the French occupied Mauritius and took it as a colony between the 1715 and 1810. The main footprint the French left were the constructions of ports. There was a period during the French Revolution where the Mauritius people established a government of their own, independently of France. After the Revolution, France regained control. The British Crown took control of the island in 1810, after some raids and confrontations with the French. A British colonial administration was thus formed, lasting until March 1968. Mauritius is now a democracy with a Government elected every five years. The most recent General Election was held on 5 May, 2010, in all the 20 mainland constituencies, as well as the constituency covering the island of Rodrigues. Historically, elections have tended to be a contest between two major coalitions of parties. The 2011 Ibrahim Index of African Governance ranked Mauritius first in good governance, the index measures governance using a number of different variables, Mauritius' government earned the highest rank for "Safety and Rule of Law" and "Sustainable Economic Opportunity" as well as earning the highest score in the index overall. Mauritius came second in "Participation and Human Rights" and "Human Development". According to the 2011 Democracy Index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit that measures the state of democracy in 167 countries, Mauritius ranks 24th worldwide and is the only African country with “full” democracy.
