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Navinchandra Ramgoolam (नवीन चन्‍द्र रामगुलाम) (born July 13 1947) is the current Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius. He first held this office from 1995 to 2000, and was reappointed on 5 July 2005, after his Alliance Sociale (a coalition including his own Labour Party, the Mauritian Party of Xavier-Luc Duval, and several smaller groups) defeated the MMM-MSM coalition of the then-Prime Minister Paul Bérenger in the general elections held on 3 July.

Biography

He is the son of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the 'father' of the nation. He trained as a doctor in Dublin, Ireland and achieved full registration with the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom in 1977. He later converted to Law by completing a LLB qualification at the London School of Economics before starting a political career using his father's goodwill name of "Ramgoolam".

His first prime ministership (1995-2000) was marked by two by-elections that he won marginally with populist promises he eventually failed to deliver and by some turbulence with which he was tried to deal with unsuccessfully. His tenure was characterized by indecisiveness, increased bureaucrazy, spiralling budget deficits, high unemployment and racial riots. He was highly criticized for evading crisis situations at hime to enjoy his white Christmas in London. He was defeated by two political leaders who joined hands to oust him in 2000. Thereafter, a series of high profile clamp downs on corruption revealed the state of his past tenures.

Between 2000 and 2005, Navin Ramgoolam was leader of the Opposition and learnt from his mistakes. In 2005, he won the elections on a plank of democratisation of the economy and by adopting a slick communication strategy. In particular he specified deadlines for achieving his short-term populist measures. In contrast the other side did not communicate effectively and were beaten by the multi-party alliance led by Navin Ramgoolam.

After winning the last elections on populist measures such as free transport for students and pensioners, he seems paralized by the increasing budget and current account deficits, double-digit inflation and unemployment, declining sugar and textile industries and a looming depreciation of the Mauritian rupee.

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