Seychelles,officially the Republic of Seychelles,is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city,Victoria,is 1,500 kilometres east of mainland Africa. Nearby island countries and territories include the Comoros,Madagascar,Mauritius,and the French overseas departments of Mayotte and Réunion to the south;and Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago to the east. Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa as well as the least populated sovereign African country,with an estimated population of 100,600 in 2022.
The politics of Seychelles have historical roots in both one-party socialism and autocratic rule. Following independence from the United Kingdom in 1976,Seychelles was a sovereign republic until 1977,when the original President and leader of the Seychelles Democratic Party,James Mancham,was overthrown in a bloodless coup by the Prime Minister France-Albert René. Renéinstalled a single-party socialist state under the Seychelles People's Progressive Front in 1979 which remained in power until 1993,when multiparty elections took place for the first time since independence,after restoring the multi-party system in 1991. Modern day Seychelles governance takes place in a framework of a presidential republic,whereby the President of Seychelles is both head of state and head of government,and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly.
Schuyler Colfax was an American journalist,businessman,and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873,and prior to that as the 25th speaker of the House of Representatives from 1863 to 1869. Originally a Whig,then part of the short-lived People's Party of Indiana,and later a Republican,he was the U.S. Representative for Indiana's 9th congressional district from 1855 to 1869.
France-Albert René was a Seychellois lawyer,politician and statesman who served as the second President of Seychelles from 1977 to 2004. He also served as the country's second Prime Minister from its independence in 1976 to 1977.
The Somali Democratic Republic was the name that the socialist military government gave to Somalia under President Major General Mohamed Siad Barre,after seizing power in a coup d'état on 21 October 1969. The coup came a few days after a bodyguard assassinated Abdirashid Shermarke,the nation's second President. Barre's administration ruled Somalia for the next 21 years until Somalia collapsed into civil war in 1991.
James Alix Michel,GCSK is a Seychellois politician who served as the third President of Seychelles from 2004 to 2016. He previously served as vice president under his predecessor,France-Albert René,from 1996 to 2004.
Wavel Ramkalawan is a Seychellois politician and Anglican priest who has been serving as the President of Seychelles since 26 October 2020. Ramkalawan was an opposition MP from 1993 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020. He also served as the Leader of the Opposition from 1998 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020. On 25 October 2020,Ramkalawan won the presidential election,the country's first such victory for an opposition candidate since independence,marking its first successful peaceful transition of power.
The unicameral National Assembly is the Seychelles's legislative body.
Francis K. Butagira is a Ugandan lawyer,judge,politician and retired diplomat,who serves as the chairman of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB),an agency of the Ugandan government responsible for maintaining registration data. He was appointed to that position in October 2015. He concurrently serves as the Managing Partner of Butagira and Company Advocates,a Kampala-based legal practice.
Paul MacEwan was a politician from Cape Breton Island,Nova Scotia,Canada. His 33 years in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly made him the longest constinuous serving Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Nova Scotia history. He was a contentious politician,who seemed to court controversy. So much so,he was kicked out of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (NDP) while he was a sitting member of the assembly in 1980 and caused them to lose official party status without him. He formed his own political party,the Cape Breton Labour Party,to contest the 1984 provincial election. He served one-term as its leader,before the party disintegrated because of financial issues. He eventually joined the Liberal Party of Nova Scotia,and became a Liberal member of the legislature. In 1993,he became the Speaker of the House of Assembly. His term as the speaker was marked with many controversies around bias and partisanship. His final years in the legislature saw him take prominent roles as Party Whip for the Liberals. After several health issues,he decided to not run for office again in 2003. He retired and lived another 14 years before finally succumbing to health issues in 2017,at age 74 in Sydney.
Jacques Hodoul was a Seychellois judge and former politician. After serving as Minister of Education and Culture,he was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1979 to 1982,Minister of National Development from 1982 to 1989,and Minister of Tourism and Transport from 1989 to 1991. He was the leader of the Seychelles Movement for Democracy,which he founded in 1991. Hodoul was appointed to the post of Justice of Appeal in March 2005,the highest court in Seychelles. Hodoul resigned from this position in 2011 after finishing his minimum five-year term. Hodoul died on 3 May 2021.
The history of Seychelles dates back to the fourth of the Portuguese India Armadas led by Vasco da Gama,though Seychelles was likely already known to Arab navigators and other sailors for many centuries. On 15 March 1503,the scrivener ThoméLopes noted the sighting of an elevated island,doubtless one of the granitic islands and almost certainly Silhouette Island. The first recorded landing was by the men of the English East India Company ship Ascension,which arrived in Seychelles in January 1609.The islands were claimed by France in 1756. Seychelles remained uninhabited until the first settlers arrived on board the ship Thélemaque,which arrived on 27 August 1770. Captain Leblanc Lecore landed the first colonists,comprising 15 white men,eight Africans and five Indians. The Seychellois Creole language developed as a means of communication between the different races. The British frigate Orpheus commanded by Captain Henry Newcome arrived at Mahéon 16 May 1794. Terms of capitulation were drawn up and the next day Seychelles was surrendered to Britain. Following the fall of Mauritius to British forces,Captain Phillip Beaver of the Nisus arrived at Mahéon 23 April 1811 and took possession of Seychelles as a permanent colony of Britain. The Seychelles became an independent republic in 1976. Following a coup d'état,a socialist one-party state ruled the country from 1977 to 1993. The subsequent democratic Presidential elections were won by candidates of the same party.
Patrick Herminie is a Seychellois politician who served as a Speaker of the National Assembly of Seychelles from 2007 to 2016. He was first elected to the Assembly in 1993 and served as Leader of Government Business from 1998 to 2003. He was a member of the People's Party and plans to run in the 2025 presidential election as the candidate for the United Seychelles Party (USP).
Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi is the current Attorney General of Kenya who served as the seventh Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. He is the first speaker to serve following the reestablishment of a bicameral Parliament by the 2010 Constitution. On 28 March 2013,Muturi won the speakership after a second round of voting by members of the National Assembly,beating former speaker Kenneth Marende by a 219–129 margin.
The chief justice of the Gambia is the head of the Gambian judiciary and is responsible for the administration and supervision of the courts. The chief justice is also the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the Gambia.
David Foote Rivers was a theologian and politician in the United States. An African American and a Republican,he served as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for Fayette County from 1883 to 1884. He represented Fayette County.
Ahmed Afif is a Seychellois politician and banker who has served as the Vice President of Seychelles since 27 October 2020.
Francis Griswold Landon was an American soldier and politician from New York.
