Opposition leader Patrick Herminie wins presidential runoff election in Seychelles
Both Herminie and Ramkalawan ran spirited campaigns trying to address key issues for voters, including environmental damage and a crisis of drug addiction in a country long seen as a tourist haven.
Seychelles holds a runoff in a tight race between president and opposition challenger
A week before the first round of voting, activists filed a lawsuit against the government challenging a recent decision to issue a long-term lease for a 400,000-square-metre (100-acre) area on Assomption, one of the country’s 115 islands, to a Qatari company to develop a luxury hotel. The largest island in the archipelago is Mahé.
Seychelles’ 77,000 registered voters fail to elect new president, rerun on cards to pick between top two
Opposition figure Patrick Herminie received 48.8 per cent of the vote, while the incumbent, Wavel Ramkalawan, garnered 46.4 per cent, according to official results. A candidate needs to win more than 50 per cent of the vote to be declared victorious.
With only 77,000 registered voters Africa’s smallest and richest nation elects new president
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.
