The idyllic islands of the Seychelles, Africa’s smallest country, are a tourist haven. Every year, hundreds of thousands of vacationers flock to the archipelago, drawn by its pristine white sand beaches. This booming tourist industry has made the Seychelles one of the wealthiest African nations by GDP per Capita.
But not all is well in paradise, and this week the citizens of the Seychelles will head to the polls to decide their next president in an election – and country – wracked by a drug trafficking and heroin addiction crisis. Independent analysts estimate that addiction rates for the roughly 120,000 Seychellois range from 5% to 10% of the population.
The two leading candidates in this election are incumbent president Wavel Ramkalawan, a former Anglican priest, and Patrick Herminie, a veteran politician and former Speaker of the National Assembly. Notably, Herminie was charged with “witchcraft” in 2023 by the Seychelles public prosecutor (which were subsequently dropped in 2024).
Neither candidate has a great record on tackling the drug epidemic. Ramkalawan has failed to make much headway in his battle against the addiction crisis, and Herminie’s served as the chairman of the Agency for Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation from 2017 to 2020.
Other key issues in the election include the government’s recent decision to lease part of Assomption Island, near the Aldabara Atoll marine reserve and UNESCO heritage site, to a Qatari company for luxury hotel development. This action prompted heavy criticism from both environmental organizations and groups concerned about the Seychelles favoring foreign interests over its own sovereignty. As an island nation, the Seychelles is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and rising sea levels, so environmental issues can feature prominently in its public debates.
Likely as a result of the ongoing drug crisis and land development controversy, traders believe that President Ramkalawan’s reelection bid is in trouble, with markets showing the incumbent trailing Herminie for the last month of the campaign. However, given the lack of polling in this race, the outcome is still very much in the air. One thing is for sure, though: if no candidate is able to win a majority of the vote on September 25, then the top two will advance to a runoff at a later date.
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