Section 42: Vacancy in office of Municipal City Councillor, Municipal Town Councillor

42. Vacancy in office of Municipal City Councillor, Municipal Town Councillor or Village Councillor (1) Where a vacancy occurs in the office of a Municipal City Councillor, Municipal Town Councillor or Village Councillor, the appropriate Chief Executive shall, not later than one week after its occurrence, give notice in writing to the Minister of the vacancy. (2) The vacant seat shall— (a) where the vacancy occurs following a declaration of the Supreme Court that a person was unduly elected or returned, be filled, subject to subsection (2A) and subsection (4) (a), by the unreturned candidate who obtained the highest number of votes after the elected candidates at the election; or (b) in every other case, be filled, subject to section 18 (5), by the first available person on the Municipal City Councillor's, Municipal Town Councillor's or Village Councillor's group's reserve list in the order of precedence in which the name appears on the list. (2A) Where the seat of a member of a group registered as an alliance becomes vacant, it shall be filled by the first available person on the reserve list of the group of which he is a member. (3) Subject to subsection (4), where the seat of a member becomes vacant, the Electoral Commissioner shall, after consultation with the Electoral Supervisory Commission, notify to the Minister the name of the person who is to fill the vacancy. [Issue 7] L18 – 28 Revised Laws of Mauritius (4) A person's name may only be so notified where— (a) he is willing to serve as a Municipal City Councillor, Municipal Town Councillor or Village Councillor, as the case may be; and (b) in the case of the filling of a vacancy pursuant to subsection (2) (b)— (i) the group does not, within one week of the notice of declaration of vacancy being published in the Gazette under section 39 (2), inform the Electoral Commissioner of its objection to his name being notified to the Minister; or (ii) in the case of a group that was registered as an alliance of 2 or more groups under section 18 (1), all the groups jointly do not, within one week of the notice of declaration of vacancy, inform the Electoral Commissioner of their objection to his name being notified to the Minister. (5) A person whose name is notified under subsection (3) shall be treated as a member of the local authority on the day on which notification of his name is received by the Minister, and that person shall take the oath referred to in section 22 at the next ordinary meeting of the Council. (6) Where, in the case of the filling of a vacancy pursuant to subsection (2) (b), no remaining person is available on the group’s reserve list or where the group did not submit a reserve list at the time of the general election of the local authority, the Minister may appoint any person who is qualified to be a Municipal City Councillor, Municipal Town Councillor or Village Councillor, as the case may be, to fill the vacancy. (7) Where a vacancy occurs in the office of a Municipal City Councillor, Municipal Town Councillor or Village Councillor, as the case may be, and— (a) the filling of the vacancy is to be made pursuant to subsection (2) (a) and there is no unreturned candidate who can, and is willing to, serve as a Councillor; or (b) the filling of the vacancy is to be made pursuant to subsection (2) (b) and the person who vacated the seat was not a member of a group, the Minister may appoint any other person who is qualified to be a Councillor to fill the vacancy. [S. 42 Councillor, Municipal Town Councillor or Village Councillor, as the case may be, and— (a) the filling of the vacancy is to be made pursuant to subsection (2) (a) and there is no unreturned candidate who can, and is willing to, serve as a Councillor; or (b) the filling of the vacancy is to be made pursuant to subsection (2) (b) and the person who vacated the seat was not a member of a group, the Minister may appoint any other person who is qualified to be a Councillor to fill the vacancy. [S. 42 amended by s. 3 of Act 23 of 2013 w.e.f. 7 December 2013; s. 13 of Act 3 of 2015 w.e.f. 9 April 2015.]