Tight race as Seychelles votes in presidential run-off

Michel, who is seeking a third five-year term, was forced into a second round against opposition leader Wavel Ramkalawan after falling short of an outright majority in the first round in early December, winning a little under 48 percent.

Ramkalawan, an Anglican priest who took 35% of the vote on his fifth run at the country’s top job, now has the backing of the second runner-up, Patrick Pillay, a former foreign and health minister, who won almost 15%.

“All the parties have agreed to rally behind Ramkalawan. Everybody’s goal is to push Michel out of office,” Pillay said.

Tourism and fisheries are the pillars of the Seychelles’ economy, with its white-sand beaches and tropical forests a favourite with well-heeled newly-weds.

Voting on the most remote islands opens Wednesday with the main vote due Friday on the main islands of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, home to most of the Seychelles’ estimated 91 000 citizens.

The African Union, the Commonwealth and the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) grouping have all sent observer teams to the election.

A former British colony, the Seychelles is made up of 115 islands lying off the coast of east Africa, some scattered up to 1 000km from the capital Victoria.

Turnout was high in the first round, at over 87%, the electoral commission said.

Despite failing to win reelection at the first round for the first time, Michel has remained defiant.

“We are still the main political force in the country, and even though we were missing two percent to win the election, we are still the strongest party,” he said of his Parti Lepep, “The People” in the local Seychellois Creole language after the results were announced.

“We are ready for the second round and we will make sure we do better than in the first… I faced five candidates, but now I will only have one adversary,” he said.

The runoff is the first since the country returned to multi-party politics in 1993 following more than a decade of one-party socialist rule.

Michel, aiming to win a third and final term as permitted by the constitution, has pledged to boost the economy and eradicate poverty in the Seychelles, long seen as a tax haven for the world’s super-rich.