PORT LOUIS, Mauritius (AFP) — Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Chandra Ramgoolam’s coalition won Wednesday’s elections by a large margin, further beefing up his majority in the national assembly, official results showed.

Well ahead of the official announcement of results yesterday evening, opposition candidate Paul Berenger admitted defeat for his camp, paving the way for his rival Ramgoolam to serve another term as prime minister.

“I concede defeat at national level,” Berenger said in a speech to his supporters broadcast on radio, while criticising what he said was a biased approach to the electoral campaign by national television.

Ramgoolam’s coalition took 41 seats, against 18 for the coalition headed by Berenger.

The National Solidarity Front took one seat in a largely Muslim district in the capital Port Louis. The remaining two seats went to a party campaigning for development on Rodrigues, an island in the archipelago.

Ramgoolam’s coalition, which had 38 MPs against 22 for the opposition in the outgoing parliament, has strengthened its position.

Out of a total of 70 seats in parliament, 62 are elected.

The eight remaining seats, allocated according to a complex formula aimed at keeping a balance between ethnic communities, is expected to be announced today.

Ramgoolam is officially the head of the parliamentary majority and under the Mauritius system, loosely based on the British one, he will be called upon by the president Anerood Jugnauth to govern the country for the next five years.