Former Speaker of the Seychelles Parliament, Patrick Herminie, has defeated incumbent President Wavel Ramkalawan in a run-off election, according to official results released on Sunday.
The victory restores full control of the Indian Ocean archipelago’s government to its long-dominant United Seychelles party.
Herminie secured 52.7% of the vote, completing a comeback for United Seychelles, which also regained its parliamentary majority in last month’s general election its first since losing power in 2015.
Seychelles, Africa’s wealthiest country per capita, comprises 115 islands spread across 1.2 million square kilometres in the western Indian Ocean. It remains a leading tourist destination and a strategic partner for investment and security cooperation with China, India, and Gulf nations.
Ramkalawan, a former Anglican priest, made history in 2020 as the first president from outside United Seychelles formerly the Seychelles People’s Progressive Front since a coup one year after independence from Britain in 1976.
Seeking a second term, Ramkalawan campaigned on his management of the post-pandemic economic recovery and expansion of social protection schemes. However, voters swung behind Herminie, who accused the outgoing president of tolerating corruption and pledged to revoke a controversial hotel project approved by the government, which environmentalists warn could endanger a UNESCO-listed coral atoll.
Herminie has also promised to lower the retirement age from 65 to 63 and implement recommendations from a truth and reconciliation commission that investigated human rights abuses linked to the 1977 coup and its aftermath.
Despite its strong economic indicators, Seychelles faces serious social and environmental challenges, including high vulnerability to climate change and one of the world’s highest per-capita rates of heroin use.
Herminie, who served as speaker between 2007 and 2016, was arrested in 2023 on witchcraft charges that were later dropped. While United Seychelles has been dogged by corruption scandals during its 43 years in power, Herminie said in a recent interview that the party had “turned the page” after years of dominance.
