The MMM's origins date back to 1968 when students' movements
Club des Étudiants Mauriciens and
Quatre-Bornes Students Association were formed by Veenoo Mootien and Robin Punchoo respectively. These two groups merged into
Club des Étudiants, which met regularly at Tennyson College, Quatre Bornes. In September 1969 during street protests against
Princess Alexandra's visit, 12 of the student-activists (including
Heeralall Bhugaloo,
Paul Bérenger, and Sushil Khushiram) were arrested by local police. After their release from prison, and with the assistance of
PMSD MP Hurry Parsad Sham (also known as Panchoo), the student movement established its first Executive Committee at Heeralall Bhugaloo's Port Louis High School. The committee's first elected members were
Heeralall Bhugaloo,
Dev Virahsawmy, Jooneed Jeeroobhurkhan, Tirat Ramkissoon, Sushil Khushiram, Ah Ken Wong, Robin Punchoo, and
Paul Bérenger. Other notable members of the new party were Zeel Peerun, Fureed Muttur, Chafeekh Jeeroburkhan, Krishen Mati, Kriti Goburdhun, Allen Sew Kwan Kan, Vela Vengaroo, and Amédée Darga. The movement also modified its name to
Mouvement Militant Mauricien in September 1969.
The early years The MMM won its first parliamentary seat in a by-election in Constituency No. 5 Triolet-Pamplemousses in September 1970, following the death of
IFB Attorney-General Lall Jugnauth.
Dev Virahsawmy (MMM) defeated Nundlall, the candidate jointly proposed by the governing
Labour Party, the
Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD), and a smaller party (
CAM) by over 5000 votes.
Showkutally Soodhun assisted
Dev Virahsawmy and the MMM during the 1970 by-elections. The MMM experienced its first schism in 1972, when the party's president Heeralall Bhugaloo left the party due to clashes over language and clothing preferences. Shortly afterwards Dev Virahsawmy left the party in 1973 to found the
MMMSP.
The path to power: 1976–1982 In 1976, in
the first general election since independence, the MMM emerged as the largest single party, with 34 of the 70 National Assembly seats. The Labour Party, led by the incumbent
Prime Minister, Sir
Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, won 28 seats, and the PMSD, led by Sir
Gaëtan Duval won 8. The MMM was only two seats short of a majority, but Ramgoolam remained in office by forming a coalition with the PMSD. The MMM formed a strong parliamentary opposition with
Sir Anerood Jugnauth as
Leader of the Opposition. Prior to the December 1976 elections
Heeralall Bhugaloo defected from the MMM to join the Labour Party. For several years
Heeralall Bhugaloo had been President of the MMM. Other members also followed his lead including Ramesh Fulena and Vijay Makhan. The MMM won power in the municipalities of
Port Louis,
Beau Bassin/Rose Hill and
Vacoas/Phoenix. The first MMM mayors were
Kader Bhayat (Port Louis),
Jean Claude de l'Estrac (Beau Bassin/Rose Hill) and
D. Jhuboolall (Vacoas/Phoenix). On 13 January 1977 Heeralall Bhugaloo resigned from his position of Minister of Education under the Labour-PMSD government which he had held since the December 1976 elections. This made way for
Kher Jagatsingh who took on Bhugaloo's ministerial seat.
Historic victory: First 60-0 Victory In
the following election in 1982, the MMM campaigned on a theme of change. Using the slogan,
Enn nouvo simen pou enn nouno lavie, the MMM won 42 of the directly elected seats in its own right, with a further 18 seats going to the
PSM and 2 to the
Rodrigues People's Organisation, both of which were electorally allied to the MMM. The MMM and its allies had thus made a unanimous sweep of the directly elected seats — an unprecedented feat. Jugnauth became Prime Minister, with
Paul Bérenger as Minister of Finance.
The 1983 schism and aftermath Disagreements within the MMM led to a schism on 22 March 1983, when Prime Minister Jugnauth rejected Bérenger's demands for the executive powers of the Prime Minister to be transferred to the Cabinet as a collective body. The party sought to replace Jugnauth with
Prem Nababsing, but he dissolved Parliament before it had a chance to vote on the
No Confidence motion brought by his erstwhile colleagues. Leaving the MMM, he and his remaining parliamentary supporters founded the
Militant Socialist Movement (MSM). In
the election that ensued, the Jugnauth's MSM and two allied parties held power, with the MMM, now led by Bérenger, winning only 19 of the 60 directly elected seats, despite gaining 46.4 percent of the
popular vote. The MMM was to remain in opposition for the rest of the decade; despite winning 47.3 percent of the popular vote in the
1987 election, it secured only 21 of the 60 directly elected seats.
The Reunion Mauritian politics since the 1990s has been characterized by frequently shifting political alliances involving the MMM, the MSM, the Labour Party, and some smaller parties. The MMM formed an alliance with the MSM for the
1990 elections, campaigning for Mauritius to cut its ties with the
British monarchy and become a
republic. The coalition subsequently broke down.
Historic Alliance: Second 60-0 Victory In the
1995 elections, the MMM joined forces with the Labour Party. This alliance swept all 60 directly elected seats, with 35 seats going to Labour and 25 to the MMM. The Labour Party leader,
Navin Ramgoolam became Prime Minister with Bérenger as his Deputy. In 1997, however, Ramgoolam dismissed all MMM ministers, including Bérenger, and formed a one-party Cabinet.
The 2000 : A new century with the MMM In the
2000 elections, the MMM again formed an alliance with the MSM, under an agreement that each party would contest an equal number of parliamentary seats; if successful, they would divide the Cabinet posts equally, and that Jugnauth, the MSM leader, would serve as prime minister for three years, after which he would resign, assume the largely ceremonial
Presidency, and hand the Prime Minister's office over to Bérenger. Accordingly, Bérenger succeeded Jugnauth as Prime Minister on 30 September 2003. He led the MMM/MSM alliance to defeat in the
elections of 2005. The alliance subsequently broke up.
Since 2010 The MMM contested the
May 2010 elections against the PTR as part of the
Alliance du Coeur with two smaller parties — the
Union National of
Ashock Jugnauth and
Social Democrat Mauritian Mouvement (MMSD) of
Eric Guimbeau. The Alliance du Coeur won only 18 of the 60 directly elected seats, as well as two indirectly elected seats. By 2014, the deputy leader of the party resigned when the MMM had formed a new alliance with the Labour Party. In the general election held on
10 December that year, this alliance won only 16 of the 69 directly and indirectly elected seats. Of these, 12 were won by the MMM itself. In 2015, the future of the party was questioned after several members resigned from the party. Amidst infighting, the MMM lost all seats during the
2015 municipal elections, which saw
Alliance Lepep sweep all five councils. The MMM also failed to win any seats in its stronghold of
Beau Bassin-Rose Hill.
Since 2020 After the 2019 general election, the MMM won only 9 seats with 20% of popular vote. This was lowest the MMM obtained at a general election and the party's forth consecutive defeat. The next strategy for the MMM was to form an strong opposition which would compete for the next general elections. While the idea of an alliance PTR- MMM- PMSD was floating around, it was far from achieved. After witnessing the poor performances of then leader of opposition; Arvind Boolell, the MMM and PMSD formed an informal alliance, together with the Reform Party and later was joined by Rassemblement Mauricien. The entente L'espoir was formed and Xavier Luc-Duval; leader of the PMSD was made leader of opposition. The entente gained in momentum and credibility. The PTR joined to lead this entente to the next municipal election after months of discussions and negotiations. Later, the PMSD, the RM and the Reform Party left the entente and an alliance was finalised between the Ptr and the MMM. This alliance was called with the PTR and MMM as the main partners and the ND and ReA as the minor partners.
The MMM in the Government : Third 60-0 Victory The formation of the was announced on 9 October 2024 in preparation for the November
2024 Mauritian general election by
Richard Duval,
Navin Ramgoolam and
Paul Bérenger of the
New Democrats (ND),
Labour Party (PTr) and Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) respectively, ahead of the official registration of the coalition which occurred on 11 October 2024. A fourth party,
Rezistans ek Alternativ (REA) by
Ashok Subron, later joined this coalition. won a landslide victory in the November
2024 Mauritian general election. The MMM won all the 19 seats it was attributed and witnessed a third 60-0 victory, following the Mauritian General Election of 1982 and 1995. It was also the fifth time where the MMM was part of a majority Government. The MMM obtained 8 ministries and 3 junior ministries:. As of 27 November 2024, third elected member of Constituency No.20 (Beau-Bassin/Petite-Riviere), was expelled from the MMM because of poor work ethics, following his disppointment of his non-nomination of as the Minister of Sports. Thus, leaving the MMM with 18 elected members. 1.
Paul Bérenger (MMM) : Deputy Prime Minister 2. Arianne Navarre-Marie (MMM), Minister of Gender Equality 3.
Jyoti Jeetun (MMM), Minister of Financial Services and Economic Planning 4. Deven Nagalingum (MMM) : Minister of Sports 5.
Reza Uteem (MMM) : Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations 6. Aadil Ameer Meea (MMM) : Minister of Industry SMEs Cooperatives 7.
Rajesh Bhagwan (MMM) : Minister of Environment 8. Ajay Gunness (MMM) : Minister of Infrastructure 9.
Joanna Bérenger (MMM) : Junior Minister of Environment 10.
Karen Foo Kune-Bacha (MMM) : Junior Minister of Sports 11. Fawzi Allymun (MMM) : Junior Minister of Local Government
Paul Berenger resigns Since November 2025, the emblematic leader, Paul Berenger of the MMM, signaled his intention to leave the Government over major disagreements, corruption and for not respecting the electoral engagements proposed by the . He resigned as Deputy Prime Minister of the Government on the 20 March 2026. Later, he was followed by Joanna Berenger, who resigned as Junior Minister, and Chetan Baboolall, who left the Government. The other 15 MMM elected Members of Parliament chose to stay in the Government. On 13 April 2026, Paul Berenger together with Joanna Berenger and Chetan Baboolall sent their official letter of resignation to the MMM. Paul Berenger, a founding member of the MMM, leaves the party after more than 57 years.
Party leaders ==Election results==