2010: The Year in Review (Q2)

April: Three-quarters of poll not happy with Berenger's performance as Leader of the Opposition. Worst economic management ever shrinks outgoing Finance Minister's political options. MMM implying 2 political dynasties in an alliance is ok, 3 is not. Sithanen dumped to increase Navin's odds of returning as PM. Amnesty International issues statement reminding us that ethnicity has no bearing on economic performance delivered. Indian Minister Shashi Taroor tends letter of resignation at second meeting with Manmohan Singh while here one minister gets ready to meet PM for the eighth time.

May: A former President climbs on soap box to remind partisan crowd son is candidate. One poll finds May 5 race close while another says 22% of voters decide 3 days before election day. Berenger's body language on radio show indicates he has lost the election. Voters give Ramgoolam new opportunity to shrug off neocon label. Bheenick back from the dead as rupee sent to hell. Myth of the strong rupee debunked.

June: Best places to deal in USD noted. Tutu and Shakira set Soweto on Fire. Lawyer says nomination process opaque. Boycott gets new definition. MPC worried inflation might be picking up. Competition Commission reports anti-competitive behaviour. Ways inequality was boosted. Real unemployment rate is 3% higher.

Read the review for Q1, Q3, Q4.

Body Language, Arithmetic and Fact

First body language. Berenger looks quite preoccupied throughout the interview he gave to Jean-Luc Emile yesterday. His body language seems to be saying that he has lost today's elections.

Next arithmetic. He reads from an "NIU report" and tell us that the secret services are expecting 37 seats for his group, 19 for Labour, 8 for MSM and 2 for the PMSD. The snag is that the total of these numbers makes 66 seats! Also pay close attention to his body language (after 7m55s) when Emile asks him whether it's not a fake document.

Finally, he says he lost the 2005 by a thin margin. Not quite. He lost by 6.2% in terms of the votes but he got 16 seats less than Ramgoolam. A 6% difference has been enough to give a comfortable majority of seats to a government each time that has happened. More on this later.