Seychelles: Historical Overview

Extracted from: "Seychelles" IN Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa (2002), edited by Tom Lodge, Denis Kadima and David Pottie, EISA, 277-278.

The principal stages of Seychelles' political development were as follows: in 1903 it became a Crown Colony; attained limited self-government in 1970; was made fully self-governing in 1974 and in 1976 became an independent republic in the British Commonwealth. An armed coup by Albert France René in June 1977 turned the country into a single-party autocracy with René as President. External as well as internal pressures induced him to lift the ban on opposition parties in December 1991. National elections for a constitutional commission were held in July 1992. After the commission's first draft failed to gain the requisite voter support in a national referendum in November 1992, a notably revised second draft was accepted in a referendum in June 1993. In July that year, presidential and legislative elections saw René and his Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF) win a convincing victory over their opponents. In the March 1998 general elections, they strengthened their position still further.

Until 1903, Seychelles was regarded as a dependency of the British Island of Mauritius, but in August that year it was separated and became a Crown Colony with a Governor and nominated Executive and Legislative Councils. No further constitutional advance took place until 1948 when, on a franchise based on a simple literacy test, the first elections for four seats in the Legislative Council were held. In 1960 the number of elected seats was raised to five. Based on the report of a constitutional adviser, a new constitution came into force on 13 November 1967. Under this, a single Governing Council, with both legislative and executive functions, was established, presided over by the Governor and comprising three official, eight elected and up to four nominated members. The Governor, who retained full reserve powers, consulted with the council on the formulation of policy. The constitution also provided for elections for the council to be held every three years on the basis of universal adult suffrage.

In December 1967, the first elections based on universal adult suffrage took place. They were contested by two recently formed political parties: the Seychelles Democratic Party (SDP) led by James R Mancham, and the Seychelles People's United Party (SPUP) led by France Albert René. Both leaders were British-trained lawyers. Although the SDP obtained some 500 votes less than the SPUP, it won four of the eight elected non-official seats of the new Legislative Council, against three to the SPUP and one to an independent candidate. It therefore emerged as the majority party.

Both parties campaigned for approximately the same social reforms, but were diametrically opposed with regard to the future political status of the colony. The SPUP galvanised nationalist sentiment for independence, while the SDP emphasised the disadvantages of decolonisation and favoured a form of economic integration with the United Kingdom. This option was not acceptable to the British government, and in 17974 the SDP adopted a pro-independence policy.

Both parties agreed that the 1967 constitution was impractical, and following a constitutional conference in London in March 1970, a new constitution introducing a ministerial system of government came into effect in October 1970. A Legislative Assembly was also established, consisting of a Speaker, 15 elected members (directly elected in seven double-member and one single-member constituencies) and the ex officio members of the Council of Ministers. In the election in November 1970, the SDP won ten seats in the Legislative Council to the five of the SDP, and its leader, James Mancham, was accordingly appointed the country's first Chief Minister.

Shortly after the 1970 election, the SPUP began campaigning for immediate independence. In 1974, the SDP followed suit. The election called by Mancham in April 1974 "... for the people to decide... who is to govern them under an independent status", gave the SDP 13 of the 15 seats in the Legislative Assembly and the SPUP the other two. On 6 June 1974, the Legislative Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the British government to convene a constitutional conference to prepare the country for independence. The constitutional conference's first meeting in London in March 1975 adopted an interim constitution conferring full internal self-government, with effect from 1 October 1975. Prior to that, the SDP and the SPUP had formed a coalition on 1 June 1975. The final form of the independence constitution was agreed at the second session of the constitutional conference, which took place in January 1976. This provided for Seychelles to become a sovereign republic as from 29 June 1976. It was also agreed that the coalition government would continue in office until 1979.