Wavel Ramkalawan was declared as the winner of the presidential election in Seychelles on Sunday, marking the first opposition victory since the Indian Ocean archipelago’s got independence from Britain more than four decades ago, reported All Africa. All the previous presidents were from the United Seychelles party, and Ramkalawan lost the 2015 election by only 200 votes.
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 that continued through Thursday to Saturday, October 22-24.
Ramkalawan garnered enough votes in the first round to clinch the presidency on his sixth attempt. He called for unity after his victory.
“It is important to find how we can reconcile our people to go forward,” the 59-year-old newly elected Seychelles president said after the voting results were announced.
Ramkalawan, the leader of the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa, or Seychelles Democratic Alliance, won 54.9% or 35,562 of the vote as against the incumbent Danny Faure’s 43.5% or 28,178 votes to become the fifth president of the Seychelles. Faure conceded the defeat and wished his successor good luck.
In his address, Ramkalwan also paid his respect to the outgoing president Faure, saying there were no losers or winners.
“Faure and I are good friends. And an election does not mean the end of one’s contribution to one’s motherland,” Ramkalawan said in his victory speech. “In this election, there were no losers, there were no winners. Our country was given the opportunity as the ultimate winner.”
The opposition also won majority seats in the recently held legislative election. Ramkalawan’s party won 25 seats, or two-thirds of the parliament, while the United Seychelles party won 10 seats. Ramkalawan said the majority will not mean that LDS will be making decisions on its own.
The newly elected president will sworn-in on Monday at State House.
