(3 Minutes Read)
The ruling Linyon Demokratik Seselwa party campaigned on economic recovery, social development and environmental sustainability. If no contender receives more than 50% of the vote, the two top candidates go into a runoff. Just over 77,000 people are registered to vote in Seychelles.
The people of Seychelles voted Saturday and are waiting for results today. President Wavel Ramkalawan is seeking a second term in Africa’s leader since 1976 to defeat the ruling party when he made his sixth bid for the presidency in 2020.
The ruling Linyon Demokratik Seselwa party campaigned on economic recovery, social development and environmental sustainability. If no contender receives more than 50% of the vote, the two top candidates go into a runoff. Just over 77,000 people are registered to vote in Seychelles.
The 115-island archipelago in the Indian Ocean has become synonymous with luxury and environmental travel, which has bumped Seychelles to the top of the list of Africa’s richest countries by gross domestic product per capita, according to the World Bank. The economy also has fuelled a growing middle class and opposition to the ruling party.
Read Also:
A week before the elections, activists filed a constitutional case against the government, challenging a recent decision to issue a long-term lease for part of Assomption Island, the country’s largest, to a Qatari company for a luxury hotel development.
The lease, which includes reconstruction of an airstrip to facilitate access for international flights, has ignited widespread criticism that the agreement favors foreign interests over Seychelles’ extended welfare and sovereignty over its land.
With its territory spread across about 390,000 square kilometers, Seychelles is especially vulnerable to climate change including rising sea levels, according to the World Bank and the UN Sustainable Development Group. Another concern for voters is a growing drug crisis.
