Resignation of former National Assembly Speaker Patrick Pillay ‘I resigned for political and personal reasons’ |01 February 2018

“I resigned as Speaker of the National Assembly and MNA of Anse Boileau for both political and personal reasons”.

This is what former Speaker Patrick Pillay told Télé Sesel and Seychelles News Agency in an interview yesterday, three days after his sudden resignation.

Seychelles NATION has since Monday been attempting to contact Mr Pillay everyday on his mobile phone but he has not answered our calls.

Mr Pillay said the country is not going in a good direction.

"The Seychellois are suffering. Cohabitation is not working, so as the Speaker of the National Assembly, I decided to resign," Mr Pillay told the two media outlets.

Mr Pillay said that on the personal side it has to do with the charges that had been made by members of the Assembly and that had to be settled outside the court. That, he said, has been postponed several times and he had asked that the case be settled before January 30.

Mr Pillay said that since the conditions were not respected, he could not remain as Speaker of the National Assembly as members had no respect for him and had not honoured their commitment.

Seychelles News Agency wrote that the former Speaker said he felt marginalised within the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) coalition.

"There are some people who think that I am blocking their way. I am not ready to sit and prevent people from achieving their ambitions ‒ that's another reason for my resignation,” he said.

Mr Pillay added that he had informed the LDS of his decision to resign since Sunday January 28 and that all members were also informed.

"When I decided to come out of my political retreat, my mission was to remove the Parti Lepep that has been in power for 41 years this year and my desire remains the same," he said.

Last year, Mr Pillay started a campaign to demand for presidential election to be held but other LDS members did not follow suit.

"This month, I heard Mr (Wavel) Ramkalawan say that there must be elections this year, but I did not say that last year," said Mr Pillay who reiterated that he had no problem with any LDS member.

Mr Pillay said that the committee of his party ‒ Lalyans Seselwa ‒ will be meeting soon to decide the future of the party with the LDS.

"I have the support of the majority of members, but there are some people who have expressed that they are against me," said Mr Pillay.

He also said that Lalyans was going to decide if it will have a candidate for the by-election in the Anse Boileau district on February 25. 

A former minister in the government led by the Parti Lepep, Mr Pillay formed his own political party with mainly former members of this party to contest the presidential election in 2015. He came out third in the first round with a score of 14.19 percent.

After the 2015 presidential election, Mr Pillay's party joined the LDS ‒ an opposition coalition comprising three other parties ‒ Seychelles National Party (SNP), the Seychelles Party for Social Justice and Democracy (SPSJD) and the Seychelles United Party (SUP) ‒ to contest the 2016 National Assembly election.

Independent candidate Philippe Boulle also forms part of LDS.