Presidential 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 ...

between 3 and 5 December 2015. As no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a second round was held between 16 and 18 December."Seychelles presidential race heading for run-off within 14 days - no candidate wins absolute majority after 'highly contested'"
Seychelles News Agency, 6 December 2015. Incumbent President

James Michel James Alix Michel, GCSK (born August 16, 1944) is a Seychellois politician and the former President of Seychelles from year 2004 to 2016. He previously served as Vice-President under his predecessor, France-Albert René, from 1996 to 2004. Mi ...

was re-elected, defeating opposition leader

Wavel Ramkalawan Wavel Ramkalawan (born 15 March 1959) is a Seychellois politician and Anglican priest who has been serving as the president of Seychelles since 26 October 2020. Ramkalawan was an opposition MP from 1993 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020. He also served as ...

by just 193 votes in the second round. Ramkalawan claimed there had been "many irregularities", including

vote buying Vote buying (also referred to as electoral clientelism and patronage politics) occurs when a political party or candidate distributes money or resources to a voter in an upcoming election with the expectation that the voter votes for the actor handi ...

."Seychelles president re-elected, opposition cries foul"
Reuters, 19 December 2015.

Background

The elections were initially scheduled to take place between 19 and 21 November 2015, but were moved "to give more time to political parties to prepare for the elections".Presidential elections in Seychelles rescheduled for December 3rd to 5th
Seychelles News Agency, 13 October 2015

Campaign

The official nomination process closed on 11 November 2015. In October 2015 incumbent President

of the People's Party announced his intention to run for re-election for a third and final term. Since the re-introduction of democracy in 1993, candidates from the People's Party have won all presidential and parliamentary elections in Seychelles. Alexia Amesbury, leader of the Seychelles Party for Social Justice and Democracy, was the first woman to contest a presidential election in Seychelles.

Results

Michel fell short of a majority in the first round, receiving about 48% of the vote, and therefore a second round was required. The second place candidate, long-time opposition leader

, received the support of third place candidate

Patrick Pillay Patrick Georges Pillay is a Seychellois politician who was the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Seychelles from 2016 to 2018. Previously he served as Minister of External Affairs and Minister of Health. In 2010, he was appointed resident ...

for the second round. Michel won the second round by a very small margin, beating Ramkalawan by only 193 votes, according to results announced by the

electoral commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

on 19 December 2015. Ramkalawan disputed the results and requested a recount. Michel was sworn in on 20 December."Seychelles leader sworn in despite contested win"
Agence France-Presse, 20 December 2015.

References

{{Seychellois elections Presidential elections in Seychelles

2015 in Seychelles