Seychelles

Patrick Herminie wins 52.7 percent of the vote, denying incumbent Wavel Ramkalawan a second term in office.

Seychelles’s opposition leader, Patrick Herminie, has won the country’s presidential race, defeating incumbent leader Wavel Ramkalawan in a run-off vote, according to the electoral commission.

Herminie won 52.7 percent of the vote, while Ramkalawan took 47.3 percent, official results announced early on Sunday showed.

In his victory speech, Herminie pledged to lower the cost of living, revive public services and unite the island nation.

“The people have spoken,” the 62-year-old said at the headquarters of the electoral commission.

“I am deeply humbled for the trust that the people have placed in me. I will be the president of all Seychellois, and I will end divisions by ceasing preferences, and giving everyone the opportunity to thrive,” he said.

Herminie’s victory gives his United Seychelles party full control of the government after it also reclaimed a majority in parliament during the first round of the general election last month.

The win is also a complete turnaround for Herminie, who in 2023 was arrested on charges of witchcraft that were later dropped. He previously served as speaker of the country’s parliament from 2007 to 2016.

Ramkalawan, who attended the electoral commission’s announcement of the results, congratulated Herminie, who becomes Seychelles’s sixth president.

“I leave with a legacy that makes many presidents blush… I hope President Herminie continues to maintain such a level,” he said.

Images published by the Seychelles Nation newspaper showed the two leaders shaking hands after the announcement.

Outside the electoral commission headquarters, thousands of Herminie’s supporters erupted in cheers and waved the country’s flag and party banners as they greeted him following his proclamation as the winner, according to videos on social media.

The race between the two main contenders was decided in a run-off after there was no outright winner in the presidential vote two weeks ago. Early voting began on Thursday, but most people in the island nation voted on Saturday.

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.

Ramkalawan campaigned for re-election on his management of Seychelles’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and expansion of social protections.

But voters opted for Herminie, who accused Ramkalawan of presiding over a proliferation of corruption, and promised to cancel a hotel project permitted by his government that environmentalists say threatens a UNESCO-listed coral atoll.

Herminie has also pledged to lower the retirement age from 65 to 63 and implement recommendations from a truth and reconciliation commission that examined human rights abuses related to a 1977 coup and its aftermath.

A physician by training, he previously headed the government’s anti-drug agency, and has promised to tackle the country’s sky-high heroin addiction, blamed in part on the fact that the islands sit on a drug route between Africa and Asia.

The country’s Agency for Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation says that 5,000 to 6,000 people use heroin out of a population of about 120,000. Other estimates put the figure as high as 10,000.

Seychelles, a nation of 115 islands, is Africa’s wealthiest country per capita.

Located across 1.2 million square kilometres (463,000 sq miles) in the western Indian Ocean, it is a prime tourist destination as well as a target for investment from, and security cooperation with, China, Gulf nations and India.

African island nation decides its future as Wavel Ramkalawan seeks a second term against Patrick Herminie.

Voters in Seychelles have been casting their ballots in a tightly fought presidential run-off between incumbent Wavel Ramkalawan and opposition leader Patrick Herminie.

Polls opened in the African island nation on Saturday, with results expected on Sunday.

The election will determine whether Ramkalawan of the governing Linyon Demokratik Seselwa party secures a second five-year term or Herminie’s United Seychelles party returns to power after losing control five years ago.

The United Seychelles party, led by Herminie, was the governing party between 1977 and 2022, before losing power.

It regained ground in last month’s parliamentary elections, winning 15 of 26 seats.

Neither candidate won outright in the first round two weeks ago.

Herminie led with 48.8 percent of the vote compared with Ramkalawan’s 46.4 percent, forcing a final round run-off in the nation of 120,000 people.

Early voting began on Thursday at special locations including elderly care homes, schools and several outer islands. Main polling stations opened after 7am (03:00 GMT) on Saturday for the more than 77,000 registered voters.

Several contentious issues have dominated this electoral cycle.

A controversial land lease has emerged as a central campaign flashpoint, with the government granting a Qatari company a 70-year agreement to build a luxury resort on Assumption Island for $20m.

Environmental groups filed a legal challenge to halt the project, arguing it threatens a fragile ecosystem near the UNESCO-protected Aldabra atoll, home to 400 unique species.

Herminie has pledged to cancel the hotel development if elected, while also promising to lower the retirement age and reduce public transport costs. Ramkalawan, the incumbent, has defended the Qatar deal as a necessary investment for the tourism-dependent economy.

Drug addiction has also dominated voter concerns. The country faces one of the world’s highest rates of heroin use, with an estimated 10 percent of working-age residents struggling with addiction. Critics say both candidates failed to adequately address the crisis during their time in government.

Ramkalawan, a former Anglican priest, became the first opposition leader to win the presidency in 2020, ending United Seychelles’ 43-year hold on power. His opponent Herminie served as parliamentary speaker and previously chaired the national drug prevention agency.

The victor will lead Africa’s smallest and wealthiest nation in per capita terms through mounting challenges including climate vulnerability and protecting sovereignty amid competing international interests.