Mauritius´s Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Luc Duval has resigned. The reason, he rejected Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam’s proposed electoral reforms.

“Under the proposed changes, Duval wants the minimum percentage of votes a party must obtain to qualify for a seat in parliament set at 5 percent instead of the 10 percent that Ramgoolam favors, Duval told reporters today in the capital, Port Louis. He also accused Ramgoolam’s Labor Party of breaking an agreement with his Mauritian Social-Democratic Party that any changes to the electoral code be approved by referendum,” reports Bloomberg.

“The electoral reforms are a step backwards,” Duval said.

Duval had the position of finance and economic development minister for nearly three years. During which time, he guided the Indian Ocean island economy through the global economic downturn, which curbed earnings in the nation’s vital tourism industry, and helped deliver what the International Monetary Fund said in February is a low rate of inflation.

Also under Duval’s leadership, the Finance Ministry worked toward maintaining or lowering the benchmark interest rate to boost economic growth even as the Bank of Mauritius claimed that inflationary pressures warrant monetary tightening.