VICTORIA, Seychelles (AP) — Early voting started Thursday across Seychelles as concerns over a drug crisis and environmental challenges facing the nation weigh heavily on the minds of many as they choose a new president and parliament.
President hopes to hold on to the top post in this tourist haven and Africa’s smallest country, both in land area and population.
Ballots papers were flown to the outer islands and special polling stations opened for the elderly and essential workers for early voting, said election commission's chief, Manuella Amesbury. The presidential and parliamentary election will be held on Saturday.
Primary contenders
Ramkalawan, an Anglican priest turned politician, became the first opposition leader since 1976 to defeat the ruling party when he made his sixth bid — and the first successful one — for the presidency in 2020.
This time around, he and his Linyon Demokratik Seselwa party campaigned on efforts for economic recovery, social development, and environmental sustainability.
His chief political rival, Patrick Herminie of the long-ruling United Seychelles Party, is a veteran lawmaker who was the speaker of the ɫtv Assembly from 2007 to 2016.
The president is elected for a five-year term. If no contender gets more than 50% of the vote, the two top placed candidates go into a runoff.
Drug problems
Seychelles has struggled with a growing drug crisis. A 2017 United Nations report described the country as a major drug transit route. The Global Organized Crime Index stated in 2023 that 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 of Victoria.
Critics say Ramkalawan has largely failed to rein in the drug crisis. His rival, Herminie, was also criticized as failing to stem the addiction rates while he was chairman of the country's Agency for the Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation from 2017 until 2020.
Gerald Edwin Julie, former program manager at the agency, said it was merely “a political tool” for Herminie, who he said had "no prior knowledge of drug addiction when appointed.”
Environmental and other concerns
The 115-island archipelago in the Indian Ocean has become synonymous with luxury and environmental travel, helping bump Seychelles to the top of the list of Africa's richest countries by gross domestic product per capita, according to the World Bank.
That has also fueled a growing middle class — and opposition to the ruling party.
A week before the elections, activists filed a constitutional case against the current government, challenging its recent decision to lease long-term a part of Assomption Island, the country's largest island, to a Qatari company for the development of a luxury hotel.
The lease, which includes the reconstruction of an airstrip to facilitate access for international flights, has ignited widespread criticism that the agreement favors foreign interests over Seychelles’ long-term welfare and sovereignty over its land.
Assomption lies close to Aldabra Atoll, a marine reserve recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. Environmental groups have demanded increased oversight and called for greater transparency in government decisions related to Seychelles sovereignty.
With its territory spread across an expanse of the Indian Ocean of almost 390,000 square kilometers (about 150,579 square miles), Seychelles is one of the most vulnerable countries to , including rising sea levels, according to the World Bank and the U.N. Sustainable Development Group.
“The hotel development on Assomption has (been) clouded with controversy,” said Victoria Duthil, who was among those who filed the case against the government.
“Recent images of an injured tortoise and dredging that have emerged have highlighted how urgent the situation is,” she added. Dredging is the removal of sediment from water bodies and includes underwater excavation.
Worries about corruption
While Seychelles leads Africa in development metrics and has the lowest corruption rankings in the sub-Saharan Africa, the rampant corruption during the three-decade presidency of France-Albert Rene, which ended in 2004, remains fresh in the minds of many.
Tensions around transparency issues reemerged during this election campaign, with another presidential candidate, Kisna Louise, under scrutiny amid a legal investigation, while yet another, Maarco Francis, faces allegations of a forged university degree.
Jean Paul Maurel, a local businessman, said no one running in this election has a perfect record.
“There are no good candidates,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Jack Denton in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.
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