ICUS joins SPM to form ‘Third Force’ in Seychelles politics |22 July 2016

The Independent Conservative Union of Seychelles (ICUS) has announced that it has joined forces with the newly formed Seychelles Patriotic Movement (SPM) to create a Third Force on the political stage of Seychelles.

“This creates a new and fresh team to compete in the forthcoming National Assembly election set for September 8, 9 and 10,” says a communiqué from the party’s president Mike Chadstone.

“The Third Force is the coming together of like minded people who believe that the time has come for the extreme politics of the two main political parties – namely Parti Lepep and LDS (Linyon Demokratik Seselwa) – must be brought under control for the benefit of the people of Seychelles,” says the communiqué.

“Since neither of these two parties received overwhelming support from the people of Seychelles during the 2015 presidential election is an indication that our society is deeply divided and this has created hate and resentment in our population. When you consider that we are by nature a peace loving nation and we have shown the world that despite our multiplicity of origins and different skin colours we have managed to live in peace and harmony under a Marxist Communist regime .... the Seychellois nation has not taken to violence by way of reprisal and now families and friends are being set against each other in the name of polarised politics from the two extreme political parties,” the communiqué added.

According to ICUS president, the ‘Third Force’ represents tolerance and moderation as Seychelles moves into a more open society and as the world around us is changing so we too must change, we must bring back fairness and accountability in our political system and we have to share responsibilities and no longer live in a country where all important decisions are taken by the President and the National Assembly is seen as a rubber stamp for the whims and idiosyncrasies of the President, whoever he may be. “People are calling for a new style of government, a new way of doing things and not just replacing one extreme political party by another. There is now a third choice, the Third Force and people can make up their own mind whether they wish to break the “two extremes” chains that have shackled us for 40 years or we move in a different and positive direction of stability without extremism,” says the ICUS communiqué.

The communiqué says that ICUS is already working as a team with SPM “for the benefit of our beloved country” and is asking “everyone who wants peace and harmony to join this new Movement and support the new way we want to move forward and to cast aside the polarised politics of the past. Hopefully it will not be very long now before we can form a government of unity. Time to share, time to be tolerant and time to be:

ONE PEOPLE, ONE COUNTRY UNDER ONE FLAG”.