Left wins big in Mauritius vote, threatens US base
| Port Louis, Mauritius
A left-wing alliance of the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) and the Socialist Party won a landslide election victory in this Indian Ocean island.
The alliance obliterated the pro-Western coalition government of Prime Minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who saw his National Alliance Party lose every seat it held after ruling the island since independence from Britain in 1968. Nominal MMM leader Anerood Jugnauth succeeds Sir Ramgoolam. The MMM is pledged to a nuclear-free zone in the Indian Ocean, which may jeopardize the status the US military base at Diego Garcia.
