VICTORIA, Seychelles (AP) — The people of Seychelles voted Saturday in an election to choose a new leader and parliament, with President Wavel Ramkalawan seeking a second term in Africa’s smallest country.
Ramkalawan’s chief political rival, Patrick Herminie of the United Seychelles Party, is a veteran lawmaker and parliamentary speaker from 2007 to 2016.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. in a sign of what was expected to be a strong voter turnout in the tourist haven, where the president is elected for a five-year term.
Long lines formed at many polling stations across the country Saturday. Electoral authorities said all stations opened on time and voting was proceeding smoothly.
Ramkalawan, an Anglican priest who later became involved in politics, became the first opposition 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 fueled a growing middle class and opposition to the ruling party.
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 (150,579 square miles), Seychelles is especially vulnerable to including rising sea levels, according to the World Bank and the U.N. Sustainable Development Group.
Another concern for voters is a growing drug crisis. A 2017 United Nations report described the country as a major drug transit route. The 2023 Global Organized Crime Index said the island nation has one of the world’s highest rates of heroin addiction.
An estimated 6,000 people out of Seychelles’ population of 120,000 use the drug, while independent analysts say addiction rates approach 10%. Most of the country’s population lives on the island of Mahé, home to the capital Victoria.
Critics say Ramkalawan has largely failed to rein in the drug crisis. His rival, Herminie, also was criticized for failing to stem the addiction rates while serving as chairman of the national Agency for the Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation from 2017 until 2020.
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