Introduction:
A lengthy struggle between France and Great Britain for the islands ended in 1814, when they were ceded to the latter. Independence came in 1976. Socialist rule was brought to a close with a new constitution and free elections in 1993. President France-Albert RENE, who had served since 1977, was re-elected in 2001, but stepped down in 2004. Vice President James MICHEL took over the presidency and in July 2006 was elected to a new five-year term.
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Geography:
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Climate:
SEYCHELLES INTL 4 66 S, 55 51 E, 9 feet (3 meters) above sea level.
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PEOPLE:
About 90% of the Seychellois people live
on Mahe Island. Most others live on Praslin and La Digue, with the remaining
smaller islands either sparsely populated or uninhabited.
Most Seychellois are descendants of early French settlers and the African slaves
brought to the Seychelles in the 19th century by the British, who freed them
from slave ships on the East African coast. Indians and Chinese (1.1% of the
population) account for the other permanent inhabitants. In 2006, about 4,000
expatriates lived and worked in Seychelles. Of those, about 65 were American.
Seychelles culture is a mixture of French and African (Creole) influences.
Creole is the native language of 94% of the people; however, English and French
are commonly used. English remains the language of government and commerce.
About 92% of the population over age 15 is literate, and the literacy rate of
school-aged children has risen to well over 98%. Increases are expected, as
nearly all children of primary school age attend school, and the government
encourages adult education.
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HISTORY:
The Seychelles islands remained
uninhabited for more than 150 years after they became known to Western
explorers. The islands appeared on Portuguese charts as early as 1505, although
Arabs may have visited them much earlier. In 1742, the French Governor of
Mauritius, Mahe de Labourdonais, sent an expedition to the islands. A second
expedition in 1756 reasserted formal possession by France and gave the islands
their present name in honor of the French finance minister under King Louis XV.
The new French colony barely survived its first decade and did not begin to
flourish until 1794, when Queau de Quincy became commandant.
The Seychelles islands were captured and freed several times during the French
Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, then passed officially to the British under
the 1814 Treaty of Paris.
From the date of its founding by the French until 1903, the Seychelles colony
was regarded as a dependency of Mauritius, which also passed from the French to
British rule in 1814. In 1888, a separate administrator and executive and
administrative councils were established for the Seychelles archipelago. Nine
years later, the administrator acquired full powers of a British colonial
governor, and on August 31, 1903, Seychelles became a separate British Crown
Colony.
By 1963, political parties had developed in the Seychelles colony. Elections in
1963 were contested for the first time on party lines. In 1964 two new parties,
the Seychelles Democratic Party (SDP) led by James Mancham, and the Seychelles
People's Unity Party (SPUP) led by France Albert Rene, replaced existing
parties.
In March 1970, colonial and political representatives of Seychelles met in
London for a constitutional convention. Elections in November 1970 brought the
resulting constitution into effect. In the November 1970 elections, the SDP won
10 seats, and the SPUP won 5 in the Legislative Assembly. Under the new
constitution, Mancham became the Chief Minister of the colony.
Further elections were held in April 1974, in which both major political parties
campaigned for independence. During the April 1974 elections, the SDP increased
its majority in the Legislative Assembly by 3 seats, gaining all but 2 of the 15
seats. Demarcation of constituencies was such that the SDP achieved this
majority by winning only 52% of the popular vote.
Following the 1974 election, negotiations with the British resulted in an
agreement by which Seychelles became a sovereign republic on June 29, 1976. The
SDP and SPUP formed a coalition government in June 1975 to lead Seychelles to
independence. The British Government was asked to appoint an electoral review
commission so that divergent views on the electoral system and composition of
the legislature could be reconciled.
As a result, 10 seats were added to the Legislative Assembly, 5 to be nominated
by each party. A cabinet of ministers also was formed consisting of 8 members of
the SDP and 4 of the SPUP, with Chief Minister Mancham becoming Prime Minister.
With independence on June 29, 1976, Mancham assumed the office of President and
Rene became Prime Minister.
The negotiations following the 1974 elections also restored the islands of
Aldabra, Farquhar, and Des Roches to Seychelles upon independence; those islands
had been transferred in November 1965 from Seychelles to form part of the new
British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).
Although the SDP/SPUP coalition appeared to operate smoothly, political
divisions between the two parties continued. On June 5, 1977, during Mancham's
absence at the London Commonwealth Conference, supporters of Prime Minister Rene
overthrew Mancham in a smoothly executed coup and installed Rene as President.
President Rene suspended the constitution and dismissed the parliament. The
country was ruled by decree until June 1979, when a new constitution was
adopted.
In November 1981, a group of mercenaries attempted to overthrow the Rene
government but failed when they were detected at the airport and repelled. The
government was threatened again by an army mutiny in August 1982, but it was
quelled after 2 days when loyal troops, reinforced by Tanzanian forces,
recaptured rebel-held installations.
At an Extraordinary Congress of the Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF)
on December 4, 1991, President Rene announced a return to the multiparty system
of government after almost 16 years of one-party rule. On December 27, 1991, the
Constitution of Seychelles was amended to allow for the registration of
political parties. Among the exiles returning to Seychelles was James Mancham,
who returned in April 1992 to revive his party, the Democratic Party (DP). By
the end of that month, eight political parties had registered to contest the
first stage of the transition process: election to the constitutional
commission, which took place on July 23-26, 1992.
The constitutional commission was made up of 22 elected members, 14 from the
SPPF and 8 from the DP. It commenced work on August 27, 1992 with both President
Rene and Mancham calling for national reconciliation and consensus on a new
democratic constitution. A consensus text was agreed upon on May 7, 1993, and a
referendum to approve it was called for June 15-18. The draft was approved with
73.9% of the electorate in favor of it and 24.1% against.
July 23-26, 1993 saw the first multiparty presidential and legislative elections
held under the new constitution, as well as a resounding victory for President
Rene. Three political groups contested the elections--the SPPF, the DP, and the
United Opposition (UO)--a coalition of three smaller political parties,
including Parti Seselwa. Two other smaller opposition parties threw in their lot
with the DP. All participating parties and international observer groups
accepted the results as 'free and fair.'
Three candidates contested the March 20-22, 1998 presidential election--Albert
Rene, SPPF; James Mancham, DP; and Wavel Ramkalawan--and once again President
Rene and his SPPF party won a landslide victory. The President's popularity in
elections jumped to 66.6% in 1998 from 59.5% in 1993, while the SPPF garnered
61.7% of the total votes cast in the 1998 National Assembly election, compared
to 56.5% in 1993.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS:
The president is both the chief of state
and head of government and is elected by popular vote for a 5-year term. The
Council of Ministers serves as a cabinet, and its members are appointed by the
president. The unicameral National Assembly has 34 seats--25 elected by popular
vote and 9 allocated on a proportional basis to parties winning at least 10% of
the vote; members serve 5-year terms. The judicial branch includes a Court of
Appeal and Supreme Court; judges for both courts are appointed by the president.
The legal system is based on English common law, French civil law, and customary
law.
Seychelles has had a multi-party system with the adoption of a new Constitution
in 1992. Since then, multi-party elections took place in 1993, 1998, 2001, 2006,
and 2007. The Seychelles People?s Progressive Front (SPPF) won the presidency
and majority in the National Assembly in all of the elections.
Presidential elections were held in July 2006. Incumbent President James Michel
of the Seychelles People?s Progressive Front, who was appointed to power by
former President Rene in 2004, won his first elected term. The final vote count
was 53.73% for Michel to 45.71% for opposition alliance candidate and Seychelles
National Party (SNP) leader, Wavel Ramkalawan. The electoral process for the
2006 presidential elections was determined to be credible by international
observers. Following a six-month boycott in the National Assembly by the SNP
opposition party, President Michel dissolved the National Assembly on March 20,
2007. Early elections to fill the vacated National Assembly seats were held May
10-12, 2007. The SPPF won 18 district seats and the SNP/DP alliance won seven
district seats. Under the system of proportional representation, the SPPF won
five seats and the SNP/DP alliance won four seats. The electoral process for the
2007 National Assembly elections was determined to be credible by international
observers.
Principal Government Officials
President--James Michel
(Head of Defense, Police, Internal Affairs, Legal Affairs, Risk and Disaster
Management)
Vice President--Joseph Belmont
(Head of Transport and Tourism and Public Administration)
Ministers
Finance--Danny Faure
Arts, Culture & Sports--Sylvette Pool
Foreign Affairs--Patrick Pillay
Investment, Industries and Technology--Jacquelin Dugasse
Environment and Natural Resources--Ronnie Jumeau
Community Development and Youth--Vincent Meriton
Land Use and Habitat--Joel Morgan
Education--Bernard Shamlaye
Health--Macsuzy Mondon
Social Affairs & Employment - Marie-Pierre Lloyd
Chief of Staff (Seychelles People's Defence Forces--SPDF)--Brigadier Leopold
Payet
Judiciary--Chief Justice Vivekanand Alleear
Attorney General--Anthony Fernando
Commissioner of Police--Gérard Waye-Hive
Ambassador to the United Nations.--Jérémie Bonnelame
(simultaneously accredited to the United Nations, the United States, and Canada)
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ECONOMY:
Seychelles economy rests on tourism and
fishing. Employment, foreign earnings, construction, banking, and commerce are
all largely dependent on these two industries.
The services sector--including transport, communications, commerce, and
tourism--has accounted for close to 70% of GDP in recent years. The share of
manufacturing has been between 15-20% of GDP, although it fluctuates from year
to year owing to changes in output from the Indian Ocean Tuna cannery. Public
investment in infrastructure has kept construction buoyant, with its share of
GDP at around 10%. Given the shortage of arable land, agriculture, forestry, and
fishing (excluding tuna) make a small contribution to national output.
GDP in 2005 was at $693 million and income per capita was at $8,682, by far the
highest in Africa. This puts the island in the World Bank?s ?upper
middle-income? bracket with the result that Seychelles is low on the agenda of
international donors and aid flows are limited. However, given the small size of
the economy, the island remains vulnerable to external shocks.
Although the average per capita income is over $8,000, residents often have
difficulty obtaining even basic foodstuffs, such as rice and sugar. Government
mismanagement and excessive economic regulations, including a manipulated
exchange rate, have resulted in foreign exchange shortages and a parallel market
currency exchange rate double the official rate.
In 2005 and 2006, the government implemented several measures toward the
liberalization of the trade regime and the privatization of state-owned
entities, such as the removal of import licenses and the partial sale of the
public insurance company SACOS. In October 2006, the Minister of Finance
announced measures to start the process of a gradual liberalization of foreign
exchange transactions. These limited measures, however, are unlikely to
influence an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which
continues to press for devaluation as an important step toward resolving the
persistent shortage of foreign exchange.
Although Seychelles is eligible for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA),
it has failed to take advantage of AGOA thus far. Seychelles is not qualified
for apparel benefits under AGOA and, in any case, its apparel manufacturing
capacity is negligible.
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