With no outright winner in Seychelles’ recent presidential election, the African country will hold a rerun vote between the two main contenders, the electoral authority said today, Sunday.
Opposition figure Patrick Herminie received 48.8% of the vote, while the incumbent, Wavel Ramkalawan, garnered 46.4%, according to official results. A candidate needs to win more than 50% of the vote to be declared the winner.
The date for the rerun election is yet to be announced.
Herminie represents the United Seychelles party, which dominated politics for decades in the country before losing power five years go. It was the governing party from 1977 to 2020.
Trying to prevent United Seychelles from returning to power, Ramkalawan seeks a second term as the leader of Africa’s smallest country. His governing Linyon Demokratik Seselwa party campaigned on economic recovery, social development and environmental sustainability.
Early voting began on Thursday, but most people voted on Saturday.
The 115-island archipelago in the Indian Ocean has become synonymous with luxury and environmental travel, which has bumped Seychelles to the top of the list of Africa’s richest countries by gross domestic product per capita, according to the World Bank.
General elections were held in Seychelles on 27 September 2025 to elect a president and members of the National Assembly.
The president of Seychelles is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round is held between the top two candidates.
Members of the National Assembly are elected by two methods; 26 (with a new constituency established in 2020) are elected from single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post voting, and up to a further ten are elected based on the percentage of votes received by each party; for each 10% of the total national vote received, a party gets one additional seat.
Additional Source: Africa News
