Presidential election 2015 – second round |09 December 2015

Run-off campaign underway

Seychelles National Party (SNP) presidential candidate Wavel Ramkalawan will feature first on the ballot paper for the second round of voting while Parti Lepep presidential candidate James Michel will follow in second place.

This was decided on Monday morning after the drawing of lots by representatives of the two parties in the presidential run-off.

Meanwhile, lots were also drawn to decide which candidate will feature first in the party political broadcasts (PPBs) on radio and television.

Parti Lepep will be the first to present its 13-minute PPB on Thursday December 10 followed by the Seychelles National Party (SNP). Another 26-minute PPB by the two candidates will be broadcast on Saturday December 12 and the two parties will close the campaign with a 13-minute programme each on Monday December 14.

Simon Gill of Parti Lepep and Nicholas Prea of SNP met at the headquarters of the Electoral Commission on Monday morning to decide on the election modalities.

Meanwhile, Electoral Commission chairman Hendrick Gappy has said that for the run-off all polling stations including the special stations will remain the same, but the Electoral Commission will review and address certain logistic issues that came up at some stations during the first round of voting last weekend.

Mr Gappy noted that arrangements are being made for people who will be travelling on December 16, 17 and before 10am on the 18th to vote on December 16 provided they are in possession of their travelling documents.

He has also called on employers to be more flexible and to allow employees ample time to reach polling stations in the districts on voting day so as to avoid situations whereby some people could not cast their votes because they arrived at or after closing time.

With regard to the voters’ register, Mr Gappy said the same voters’ register will be reprinted and he is calling on people to verify their names either by phone or by calling in person at the electoral commission head office at the National Library, or through the electoral commission’s SMS system.

Mr Gappy accompanied by representatives of the two candidates – Wilson Joseph representing James Michel of Parti Lepep and Robin Johnstone representing Wavel Ramkalawan of the SNP – leave today for South Africa where the ballot papers will be printed at the same factory which did those used for the first round. They are expected back on Friday with the ballot papers.

After none of the six candidates could pull off the 50% plus one vote for an outright majority in the first round on Saturday, a run-off is necessary to decide who between Parti Lepep’s James Michel and SNP’s Wavel Ramkalawan will become the next President.

The two men secured the most votes in the December 3-5 first round.

Out of the 70,943 eligible voters, there were a total of 62,004 votes cast among which 60,538 were valid votes and 1,466 rejected ballots. The voter turnout was 87.4%.

Incumbent President Michel won 28,911 votes (47.76%), while Mr Ramkalawan scored 21,391 votes (35.33%).

This is the first time since the return of multi-party democracy in Seychelles in 1993 that the presidential election goes into a second round.