Paul Bérenger
Prime minister
Paul Raymond Bérenger GCSK, MP (born 26 March 1945) is a Mauritian politician who serves as Leader of the Opposition. He was Prime Minister of Mauritius from 2003 to 2005. He has been Leader of the Opposition at various reprises from 1983 to 1987, 1997 to 2000, 2005 to 2006, 2007 to 2013 and lastly from October 2013 until September 15th, 2014 when he submitted his resignation. He was also Deputy Prime Minister from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2003, and he was a cabinet minister in the government of Anerood Jugnauth in 1982 and 1991. Following his party's defeat in the 2014 general elections, he was appointed to serve on his 6th term as Leader of the opposition making him the longest serving office holder to this constitutional position. In 2003, Berenger took office as Prime Minister following the resignation of then Prime Minister Jugnauth after serving as his deputy for three years. He led the MSM/MMM coalition government for a period of one year and nine months before his alliance lost the elections to the Labour Party in 2005.Bérenger founded the Mauritian Militant Movement in 1969 along with Dev Veerasawmy and the Jeerubarkhan brothers. It is known to be the best established political force in the country as since its inception, it has always received more than 40% of direct votes in general elections. After the 2000 elections, the MMM formed a coalition with the Militant Socialist Movement. They came to an agreement that the leader of the MSM, Anerood Jugnauth, would serve as prime minister for the first three years of the five-year term of Parliament and Berenger would take over for the remaining two years of their term. This agreement was fulfilled; Berenger subsequently tried to run on his own in the following elections but lost to Navinchandra Ramgoolam in the 2005 elections. Bérenger is an alumnus of the University College of North Wales in Bangor, now Bangor University.On 22 January 2013, Berenger publicly announced that he was diagnosed with tonsil cancer and resigned both as Leader of the MMM and Leader of the Opposition for his treatment during which Alan Ganoo (who is a MMM member and MP) was designated to succeed him temporarily as both Leader of the MMM and Leader of the Opposition. After he successfully recovered from cancer, he returned to his position as Leader of the Opposition on October 1, 2013.After his party ended up their alliance with the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM), Berenger negotiated an alliance with the Labour Party on a power sharing deal where both parties would include 30 candidates and same number of government ministers. Navin Ramgoolam will remain prime minister until a new constitution is adopted to enhance the powers of the president before resigning to make place for Berenger to succeed him.
Personal facts
| Birth date | March 26, 1945 |
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