Hendrick Gappy, chairman of Seychelles Electoral Commission has recently stated that Seychelles will go to an unprecedented presidential election run-off on Dec. 16, after all six candidates in the first round failed to secure a 50% share of the vote.
The Indian Ocean archipelago nation of 115 islands and 93,000 people went to the polls to pick a new president on December 3 in the three-day vote.
The incumbent President James Michel, 71, won 47.76% of the 62,004 votes that were cast, while his closest challenger, Wavel Ramkalawan, a 54-year old Anglican priest, scored 33.93%.
Michel, who touted his economic credentials during the campaign, said the result showed his party, Parti Lepep or People’s Party in Creole, was still dominant. “We got more votes than any other party. We missed by only 2%. We are ready for the second round,” he said.
The Seychelles economy, which relies on tourism but also has expanding fisheries and financial services industries, is forecast to expand by more than 4% in 2015, according to the International Monetary Fund.
