Sunday, November 1, 2009

Mayotte, History and politics






In 1500 the Maore or Mawuti (Mayotte) Sultanate was established on the Island.
In 1503, Mayotte was observed b y Portuguese explorers, but not coloniszed.
In 1832-1843, it was under the possession of some Sultans of Madagascar.Since 1843 France gained colonial control over Mayotte in 1843.It is the most populous of the four Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean of Mozambiqe in Africa. Mayotte chose to remain a French dependecy rather than joining the other Comorian Islands in declaring Independence in 1975. Comoros laid claim to Mayotte shortly after Independence. and continue to do so. It was the only island in the archipelago that that voted in referendums in 1974 and 1976 to remain its link with France and forgo independence (with 63.8% and 99.4 % of votes). United Nations Security Council adopted resolution supported by 11 of the 15 members of the Council but France vetoed the resolution. In July 2000, 70% of voters opted to accept greater autonomy but wanted to remain a part of France. In 2009, France cast a lone veto in the council. The United Nations Security Council continuously trying to adopt resolution in the title : "Questions of the Comorian Island of Mayotte" upto 1995. Since 1995, the subject of Mayotte has not been discussed by the General Assembly.
A referendum on becoming an overseas department of France in 2011 was held on 29 March, 2oo9. The outcome was a 95.5 p.c. vote in favour of changing the Island's status from a French "overseas community" to become a France's 101st department.It will then get the same healthcare and welfare system as France but will also have to pay more taxes. The non-official tradional Islamic law that is still applied in some aspects of the day to dsy life of some people will be progressively abolished and be completely replaced by the already existing uniform civil code.
Politics:
Politics of Mayotte takes place in a frme work of a prliamentary representative democratic french overseas community, whereby the president of the aaaaaageneral Council is the head of Govt. , and of a multi-party system.Executive power is exercised by the Govt.
Mayotte also sends one deputy to the French National Assembly and two senators to the French senate.
The situation to the Mayotte proved to be unwieldy for France while the local population very largely did not want to be Independent from France amd join the Comoros , some International criticism from post-colonial leftist regime was heard about Mayotte's ongoing ties to France. Furthermore, the peculiar local administrationof mayotte, largely ruled by customary Muslim laws , would be difficult to integrate into the legal structures of France, not to mention the costs of bringing the standards of living to levels close close to those of metropolitan France. For these reasons, the laws passed by the national parliament of France had to state specifically that they applied to Mayotte for them to be applicable on mayotte.
The status of mayotte was changed in 2001 towards one very close to the status of the departments of mainland France, with the particular designation of departmental community, although the Island is still claimed by the Comoros. This change was approved by 73 % in a referendum. After the constitutional reform of 2003 it became an overseas community while retaining the departmental community of Mayotte.


After the local referendum that occurred in 2009, 95 % of voters massively approved the constitutional reform. mayotte will become a new overseas department (DOM), further increasing its links with the legal and social system used in La Reunionand in the metropole. This will require abondoning some customary laws , adopting the standard civil code of France and reforming the judiciary, educational social and fiscal systems, over a period of about 20 years, In addition , the department will become fully eligible to fundings from the European union ( to which it will be fully integrated) like four other French DOM's.