Parliamentary elections were held in

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

from 8 to 10 September 2016. Three parties and three independent candidates ran for the 25 directly-elected seats. The result was a victory for the opposition

Linyon Demokratik Seselwa Linyon Demokratik Seselwa ( en, Seychellois Democratic Alliance/Union, LDS) is a liberal political coalition which has governed since 2016 in the Seychelles. They have 25 seats in the National Assembly. The coalition was originally made up of th ...

alliance, which won 19 of the 33 seats. It was the first time since the

1979 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1979. Africa * Algeria: presidential election * Benin: parliamentary election * Botswana: general election * Gabon: presidential election * Ghana: presidential election * Kenya: general election * Mal ...

that the People's Party did not win a majority of seats.

Electoral system

Members of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

are elected by two methods; 25 are elected from single-member constituencies using

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

, and up to a further ten are elected based on the percentage of votes received by each party; for each 10% of the total national vote received, a party gets one additional seat.

Campaign

The four main opposition parties (the

Seychelles National Party The Seychelles National Party (SNP) is a liberal political party in Seychelles. Its followers emphasize active multiparty democracy, respect for human rights and liberal economic reforms. It was founded in response to what it called the "totalita ...

, the

Seychellois Alliance The Seychellois Alliance or Lalyans Seselwa was a political party in Seychelles. The party was founded in April 2015 as a split from the ruling Parti Lepep. Its founder Patrick Pillay was a senior member of Parti Lepep. After Pillay contest ...

, the

Seychelles Party for Social Justice and Democracy Alexia Amesbury (born , née Jumeau) is a Seychellois politician and a lawyer by profession. Under the umbrella of the Seychelles Party for Social Justice and Democracy, she contested in the 2015 presidential election to become the first woman t ...

and the

Seychelles United Party Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

) formed a coalition, Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) in order to contest the elections, having boycotted the

2011 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2011. * Local electoral calendar 2011 * National electoral calendar 2011 * 2011 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2011 Beninese presidential election * 2011 Beninese parliamentary el ...

, which saw the People's Party win all 31 seats. The Seychelles Patriotic Movement nominated 23 candidates for the 25 constituency seats, whilst three independent candidates also ran.Opposition coalition -- LDS -- wins Seychelles' National Assembly in historic electoral transition
Seychelles News Agency, 11 September 2016

Conduct

Two international observer groups were present during the election, the

Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security coopera ...

(SADC) and the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

(AU). The SADC observer team of 19 members hailed from eight SADC member countries and covered all 25 constituencies. The AU sent a historic observer team of women-only observers, led by Fatuma Ndangiza, present in the country from 1 to 15 September. Two local observer groups, the Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS) and the Association for Rights, Information, and Democracy (ARID) also provided feedback.

Results

References

{{Seychellois elections Elections in Seychelles

2016 in Seychelles