Seychelles began a three-day electoral process on Thursday, ending September 27, to elect a president and renew the archipelago's unicameral National Assembly. The current head of state, Wavel Ramkalawan, is seeking reelection and the opposition is seeking a return to power.
Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (5:00 a.m. GMT) and will close at 7:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. GMT) for the three days of voting, as the country has 115 islands located in the Indian Ocean, northwest of Madagascar, where remote areas require the transfer of polling stations by boat or plane.
Some 77,045 voters are called to the polls to elect the president and 35 members of Parliament for a five-year term, according to the Electoral Commission of Seychelles (ECS).
Saturday will be the key day, as the majority of the electorate will cast their ballots on the island of Mahé, the country's political, economic, and administrative center. Home to the capital, Victoria, and home to 90% of the islands' 102,612 inhabitants, according to the Seychelles National Statistics Office.
Eight candidates—including four independents—are vying for the position of head of state, while candidates from eight parties are running for legislative elections in 26 electoral districts in Seychelles, one of the most stable countries and the smallest in Africa in terms of area and population.
The race is marked by the struggle between Ramkalawan and his main rivals: opposition candidate Patrick Herminie and businessman Maarco Francis.
Ramkalawan, 64, leader and founder of the Seychelles National Party (SNP) and the country's fifth president, is seeking renewed mandate to complete pending economic, social, and tourism reforms following the COVID-19 pandemic, such as reducing poverty and expanding the middle class.
Herminie, 61, of the United Seychelles (US) party, is advocating for reforms related to strengthening press freedom, transparency in the declaration of assets by politicians and their families, and a "national reconciliation" program for victims of the repression that followed the 1977 coup.
It also proposes rebuilding and modernizing tourism, the country's main source of income, by eliminating taxes.
For his part, Francis, 47, owner of the Levasserur Rum distillery and AAA International Service Ltd., a firm dedicated to international corporate services in tax havens, focuses his program on boosting the local economy and entrepreneurship, digitizing the state, and promoting renewable energy.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, a runoff election will be held between the two candidates with the most votes within a maximum of seven days.
The elections will be supervised by international observer missions, such as those from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the joint African Union (AU) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
Seychelles, whose economy depends primarily on tourism, is the African country with the highest per capita income, around $17,000, according to the World Bank.
