Patrick Pillay to contest presidential election |08 September 2020

Mr Pillay (right) and his running mate Weston Wirtz

Lalyans Seselwa party leader Patrick Georges Pillay has announced that he will take part in next month’s Presidential election.

His running mate is Weston Wirtz.

A former minister in the government led by the Parti Lepep (now United Seychelles), Mr Pillay formed his own political party ‒ Lalyans Seselwa ‒ 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 ‒ a record for a first-timer.

His party ‒ Lalyans Seselwa ‒ then joined the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (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.

Mr Pillay was elected member of the National Assembly for the electoral area of Anse Boileau and was also elected Speaker of the National Assembly at the Assembly’s first sitting on September 27, 2016 following these elections.

On January 29, 2018, Mr Pillay resigned as Speaker of the National Assembly and the MNA of Anse Boileau citing “both political and personal reasons”.

Gerard Govinden