Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth claimed victory Friday in the Mauritius election, with official preliminary results showing his alliance taking a comfortable lead over rivals in the Indian Ocean nation.

With 80 percent of votes counted at 22:00 local time (1800 GMT), projections from the Electoral Commission gave a large lead to a coalition led by Jugnauth, who took the helm of one of Africa's wealthiest countries when his father stepped down in 2017. Partial results from the state-run commission forecast Jugnauth's centre-right Morisian Alliance will win 38 of 62 possible seats in parliament - enough to secure the outright majority needed to form government alone.

Jugnauth said he would be prime minister for all Mauritians after claiming to have won a popular mandate in Mauritius, a prosperous archipelago nation that prides itself as a stable democracy in a sometimes volatile neighbourhood.

The 57-year-old leader was hand-picked for the top job when his father quit two years before his term expired, spurring the jeers of nepotism that dogged Jugnauth during his brief time in office.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019