HISTORY
The Seychelles
islands remained uninhabited for more than 150 years after they
became known to Western explorers. The islands appeared on Portuguese
charts as early as 1505, although Arabs may have visited them
much earlier. In 1742, the French Governor of Mauritius, Mahe
de Labourdonais, sent an expedition to the islands. A second expedition
in 1756 reasserted formal possession by France and gave the islands
their present name in honor of the French finance minister under
King Louis XV. The new French colony barely survived its first
decade and did not begin to flourish until 1794, when Queau de
Quincy became commandant.
The Seychelles
islands were captured and freed several times during the French
Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, then passed officially to
the British under the 1814 Treaty of Paris.
From the
date of its founding by the French until 1903, the Seychelles
colony was regarded as a dependency of Mauritius, which also passed
from the French to British rule in 1814. In 1888, a separate administrator
and executive and administrative councils were established for
the Seychelles archipelago. Nine years later, the administrator
acquired full powers of a British colonial governor, and on August
31, 1903, Seychelles became a separate British Crown Colony.
By 1963,
political parties had developed in the Seychelles colony. Elections
in 1963 were contested for the first time on party lines. In 1964
two new parties, the Seychelles Democratic Party (SDP) led by
James Mancham, and the Seychelles People's Unity Party (SPUP)
led by France Albert Rene, replaced existing parties.
In March
1970, colonial and political representatives of Seychelles met
in London for a constitutional convention. Elections in November
1970 brought the resulting constitution into effect. In the November
1970 elections, the SDP won 10 seats, and the SPUP won 5 in the
Legislative Assembly. Under the new constitution, Mancham became
the Chief Minister of the colony.
Further
elections were held in April 1974, in which both major political
parties campaigned for independence. During the April 1974 elections,
the SDP increased its majority in the Legislative Assembly by
3 seats, gaining all but 2 of the 15 seats. Demarcation of constituencies
was such that the SDP achieved this majority by winning only 52%
of the popular vote.
Following
the 1974 election, negotiations with the British resulted in an
agreement by which Seychelles became a sovereign republic on June
29, 1976. The SDP and SPUP formed a coalition government in June
1975 to lead Seychelles to independence. The British Government
was asked to appoint an electoral review commission so that divergent
views on the electoral system and composition of the legislature
could be reconciled. As a result, 10 seats were added to the Legislative
Assembly, 5 to be nominated by each party. A cabinet of ministers
also was formed consisting of 8 members of the SDP and 4 of the
SPUP, with Chief Minister Mancham becoming Prime Minister. With
independence on June 29, 1976, Mancham assumed the office of President
and Rene became Prime Minister.
The negotiations
following the 1974 elections also restored the islands of Aldabra,
Farquhar, and Des Roches to Seychelles upon independence; those
islands had been transferred in November 1965 from Seychelles
to form part of the new British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).
Although
the SDP/SPUP coalition appeared to operate smoothly, political
divisions between the two parties continued. On June 5, 1977,
during Mancham's absence at the London Commonwealth Conference,
supporters of Prime Minister Rene overthrew Mancham in a smoothly
executed coup and installed Rene as President. President Rene
suspended the constitution and dismissed the parliament. The country
was ruled by decree until June 1979, when a new constitution was
adopted.
In November
1981, a group of mercenaries attempted to overthrow the Rene government
but failed when they were detected at the airport and repelled.
The government was threatened again by an army mutiny in August
1982, but it was quelled after 2 days when loyal troops, reinforced
by Tanzanian forces, recaptured rebel-held installations.
At an
Extraordinary Congress of the Seychelles People's Progressive
Front (SPPF) on December 4, 1991, President Rene announced a return
to the multiparty system of government after almost 16 years of
one-party rule. On December 27, 1991, the Constitution of Seychelles
was amended to allow for the registration of political parties.
Among the exiles returning to Seychelles was James Mancham, who
returned in April 1992 to revive his party, the Democratic Party
(DP). By the end of that month, eight political parties had registered
to contest the first stage of the transition process: election
to the constitutional commission, which took place on July 23-26,
1992.
The constitutional
commission was made up of 22 elected members, 14 from the SPPF
and 8 from the DP. It commenced work on August 27, 1992 with both
President Rene and Mancham calling for national reconciliation
and consensus on a new democratic constitution. A consensus text
was agreed upon on May 7, 1993, and a referendum to approve it
was called for June 15-18. The draft was approved with 73.9% of
the electorate in favor of it and 24.1% against.
July 23-26,
1993 saw the first multiparty presidential and legislative elections
held under the new constitution, as well as a resounding victory
for President Rene. Three political groups contested the elections--the
SPPF, the DP, and the United Opposition (UO)--a coalition of three
smaller political parties, including Parti Seselwa. Two other
smaller opposition parties threw in their lot with the DP. All
participating parties and international observer groups accepted
the results as "free and fair."
Three
candidates contested the March 20-22, 1998 presidential election--Albert
Rene, SPPF; James Mancham, DP; and Wavel Ramkalawan--and once
again President Rene and his SPPF party won a landslide victory.
The President's popularity in elections jumped to 66.6% in 1998
from 59.5% in 1993, while the SPPF garnered 61.7% of the total
votes cast in the 1998 National Assembly election, compared to
56.5% in 1993.
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