| Country: | Seychelles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Election Date: | 20–22 March 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered: | 54,847 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General elections were held in the Seychelles between 20 and 22 March 1998. Incumbent President France-Albert René and his Seychelles People's Progressive Front won both elections with over 60% of the vote,[1] defeating a divided opposition.
On the 4 February 1998 it was announced that the presidential and parliamentary elections would be held at the same time in March.[2] President René and his ruling Seychelles People's Progressive Front were expected to easily win the elections.[3] René enjoyed strong support for introducing a social welfare system and benefited from the inability of the opposition to unite against him.[2] He was challenged by the former President James Mancham of the Seychelles Democratic Party, who he had deposed in a coup in 1977, and also by Wavel Ramkalawan of the new United Opposition party.[4]
The election saw a joint team of international election monitors from the Commonwealth of Nations and Francophonie observe the election, the first time they had sent a combined team to observe an election.[5] [6] The team was led by Sir John Compton, former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia.[6] The monitors said the election was mainly free and fair, and complemented it on being well organised.[7] However, there were some complaints about vote buying by government officials.[7]
President René won the presidential election with two-thirds of the vote, while former President Mancham was beaten into third place by Wavel Ramkalawan.[8]
The parliamentary results saw the governing Seychelles People's Progressive Front win 24 of the 25 directly elected seats and a further 6 of the 9 seats that were elected proportionally.[7] The opposition Democratic Party was reduced to only one seat, while the new United Opposition won three seats.[7]