[All Africa] Wavel Ramkalawan unseated the incumbent President of Seychelles in the island nation's three-day election, winning nearly 55 percent of the vote and ushering in a new era of politicianship after decades of trying to win the archipelago's top office, election officials announced Sunday.A mainstay in the political scene who first ran for president in 1998, the leader of the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa political party avenged his showing in the last presidential election, when he lost the presidency by a mere 193 votes.
The new president will be sworn in on Monday at State House.
Ramkalawan will take office with a strong political hand. His LDS party won more than a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly election held at the same time as the presidential election.
A total of 66,017 votes were cast out of the 74,634 people who were eligible to vote in the three-day presidency and legislative election which started from Thursday to Saturday, October 22-24.
Ramkalawan, 59, who was contesting the presidency for a sixth time, was declared the winner by the chairperson of the Electoral Commission on Sunday morning. He won 35,562 or 54.8 percent of the votes cast while his closest rival, Danny Faure, the outgoing president of the United Seychelles party won 28,178 or 43.5 percent.
In his address, Ramkalawan thanked his supporters for "the experience we have been through these past few days and the results we got. I would like to firstly say that we should not look at it as a victory for a political party. Through the results, the people of Seychelles gives us a lot of responsibility."
Ramkalawan commended the Electoral Commission for "a wonderful job regardless of the challenges faced. As a new Electoral Commission, you were tasked with not only overseeing on an election but two elections in one go. The last time the country did such an exercise was back in 1998."
He also paid his respect to the outgoing president Danny Faure.
"Mr. Faure and I are very good friends and an election does not mean the end of one's contribution to one's motherland. Our theme is Seychelles for all her children. So, President Faure, I'd like to thank you for all the work you've done for our country... I look forward to your continued contribution to the development of our motherland," said Ramkalawan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2020 00:00 ||
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