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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.
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| Registered | 54,847 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 86.70% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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]
| Candidate | Running mate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France-Albert René | James Michel | Seychelles People's Progressive Front | 31,048 | 66.67 | |
| Wavel Ramkalawan | Annette Georges | United Opposition | 9,098 | 19.53 | |
| James Mancham | Danielle Belle | Seychelles Democratic Party | 6,427 | 13.80 | |
| Total | 46,573 | 100.00 | |||
| Valid votes | 46,573 | 97.95 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 977 | 2.05 | |||
| Total votes | 47,550 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 54,847 | 86.70 | |||
| Source: Nohlen et al. | |||||
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]
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FPTP | PR | Total | +/– | |||||
| Seychelles People's Progressive Front | 28,610 | 61.71 | 24 | 6 | 30 | +3 | ||
| United Opposition | 12,084 | 26.06 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +2 | ||
| Seychelles Democratic Party | 5,609 | 12.10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | –4 | ||
| Independents | 60 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Total | 46,363 | 100.00 | 25 | 9 | 34 | +1 | ||
| Valid votes | 46,363 | 97.47 | ||||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,205 | 2.53 | ||||||
| Total votes | 47,568 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 54,847 | 86.73 | ||||||
| Source: Nohlen et al. | ||||||||
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