The 2024 electoral campaign comes to an end this weekend as people vote on Sunday to elect a new government. The two main parties contesting the elections are the Alliance Lepep, led by outgoing Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and the Alliance du Changement, led by former Prime Minister Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam.

Ki News explains the main electoral jargon that non-citizens may hear everyday but are unfamiliar with.

AI

AI or Artificial Intelligence has been at the core of debates during the electoral campaign. This campaign has been marked by audio tapes allegedly containing controversial conversations of eminent personalities at the helm of government, including the Prime Minister and the Commissioner of Police. Those targeted have defended themselves, claiming the audio tapes are a fabrication of the opposition using AI technologies, except one audio where the Prime Minister stated it was indeed his voice but not his conversation. These audio leaks allegedly resulting from phone tapping have played a major role in the campaign and may impact on election results.

BALIE CARO

A creole term literally meaning clearing a field (sugarcane probably), this is often used by politicians to depict a sweeping victory.

BLD

This does not mean Bachelor in Landscaping and Design nor Bad Life Decision. The creole term Bour Li Dehor means kick him out. This acronym was first coined during the Wakashio ship oil spill disaster in the South East when angry protestors took to the streets. Since then, it has become a favourite protest slogan and even turned into a sega.

CHATWA

This is a word derived from Hindi, literally meaning to lick (referring to political bootlickers) and is used to define cronies. This term is aggressively used in all anti-government and anti-MSM protests.

COUPER TRANSER

This means pick and choose candidates on the ballot paper. There are two main types of voters: One type who is loyal to the party and would vote all three candidates of the same party, and another type who is loyal to candidates and would vote for three candidates not necessarily belonging to the same party. Politicians advise their followers against Çouper Transer”.

CONGRES NOCTURNE

This means small localised political meetings usually held at the residence of agents at night.

DAL PA PU CUI

Literally means the pulses will not cook. Politicians love this term, by saying this they mean their adversaries will not be able to impose.

DIFE DAN LANKA

This translates into ‘fire in the house’ and means the opponent is in serious trouble.

LEVER PAVILLION

Raise your flag. It is common for activists to be given a free party flag when attending political rallies and time and again, politicians would ask them to Lever Pavillion (raise your flags).

MARI

A word depicting supremacy. One will always say he is ‘Mari’’ his opponent.

MEETING

Pronounced ‘Meeching’, this refers to open air public rally drawing large crowds.

MISSIER MOUSTASS

Mr Moustache is a personality first described by the former CEO of Mauritius Telecom, when he revealed that a certain technician from India bearing a moustache, was in Mauritius to do ‘sniffing’ on internet cables, something vehemently denied by the authorities. Later, anonymous audio recordings started appearing on Facebook, then TikTok, then Youtube, uploaded by a profile under the name of Missier Moustass. These audio recordings contained alleged conversations of top personalities, many of the said conversations pertaining to alleged corruption cases or political interference in public institutions, etc. Missier Moustass categorized his videos under Season 1 to 10, each with a number of Episodes. In the first episode, he described himself as a civil servant doing illegal phone snooping on the instruction of the authorities and that he cannot keep the secret for long, feeling the urge to denounce. The police is investigating to track him down as he has either resorted to illegal phone tapping to manipulate audios or making wrong use of AI to create controversial audios. The Prime Minister also announced a Commission of Enquiry on this mystery.

TSUNAMI

Don’t panic when you here this. When politicians say a tsunami is coming, they are referring to a landslide victory. Our politicians love this word and they see tsunami coming at every election.

VOTEZ BLOCK

No, we are not being asked to vote for bricks. Votez BLOCK or BLOC means vote for all three candidates of the same party.

3 ZERO PISSO

This means the party has won or is likely to win all three seats or is inviting its followers to ensure all three candidates are elected.