National Assembly (Seychelles)

The unicameral National Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale; Creole: Lasanble Nasyonal) is the Seychelles's legislative body.

National Assembly Seychellois Creole: Lasanble Nasyonal French: Assemblée nationale
7th National Assembly
Logo of the National Assembly of Seychelles.
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	30 July 1993 (1993-07-30)[1]
Preceded by	People's Assembly of Seychelles
Leadership
Speaker	Roger Mancienne, LDS since 28 October 2020
Deputy Speakers	Gervais Henrie Brian Édouard Phillip Arnaud Dion Marjourie Vivienne Mathiot, LDS since 28 October 2020
Leader of Government Business	Bernard Georges, LDS since 28 October 2019
Leader of the Opposition	Sebastien Pillay, US since 28 October 2020
Structure
Seats	35
Political groups	Government (25)   LDS (25) Opposition (10)   US (10)
Length of term	5 years
Elections
Voting system	Parallel voting
First election	20–23 July 1993
Last election	22–24 October 2020
Next election	Not before 31 October 2025
Motto
United in diversity Seychellois Creole: Linite dans diversite
Meeting place
National Assembly Building, Victoria
Website
nationalassembly.sc
Constitution
Constitution of Seychelles

The National Assembly in its current constellation formed following elections held on 22–24 October 2020, with a total of 35 members. The current Speaker of the National Assembly is Roger Mancienne, in office since 28 October 2020.^[2]

Background

The current National Assembly was preceded by the Legislative Council of Seychelles from 1962 to 1970, the Legislative Assembly from 1970 to 1974, the House of Assembly from 1975 to 1976, the National Assembly 1976 to 1977 and the People's Assembly from 1979 to 1993.^[3]

26 members are elected in single member constituencies using the simple majority (or First-past-the-post) system. The remaining up to nine members are elected through a system of proportional representation. Members serve five-year terms.^[4]

The working language of the National Assembly is Seychellois Creole. With permission from the speaker, members may address the assembly in English or French. Visitors may address the assembly in other languages with the speaker's permission.^[5]

List of speakers

Position	Name	Took office	Left office	Notes
Legislative Council of Seychelles	Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith	January 1962	February 1967	Also colonial governors [6] [7]
	Hugh Norman-Walker	February 1967	January 1969
	Bruce Greatbatch	January 1969	November 1970
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly	Michel Lousteau-Lalanne	1970	1974	[8]
Speaker of the House of Assembly	Michel Lousteau-Lalanne	1975	1976	[8]
Speaker of the National Assembly	Michel Lousteau-Lalanne	1976	June 1977	[8]
In abeyance		June 1977	1979	[9]
Chairman of the People's Assembly	David Thomas	1979	1979	[8]
Chairman of the People's Assembly	John Renaud	1979	1983	[8]
Chairman of the People's Assembly	John Mascarenhas	1983	December 1987	[8]
Chairman of the People's Assembly	Francis MacGregor	December 1987	1993	[8]

Speakers and deputy speakers of the National Assembly of Seychelles since the 1993 multiparty elections:

Legislature	Speaker	Deputy	Entered office	Left office
First National Assembly	Francis MacGregor	Shelton Jolicoeur	30 July 1993	1998
Second National Assembly	Francis MacGregor	Shelton Jolicoeur	30 March 1998	2002
Third National Assembly	Francis MacGregor	Shelton Jolicoeur Dick Esparon[10]	17 December 2002	2007
Fourth National Assembly	Patrick Herminie	Wilby Lucas[11]	29 May 2007	2011
Fifth National Assembly	Patrick Herminie	Andre Pool	2011	September 2016
Sixth National Assembly	Patrick Pillay	Nicholas Prea	27 September 2016	29 January 2018
	Nicholas Prea	Ahmed Afif	6 March 2018	28 October 2020
Seventh National Assembly	Roger Mancienne	Gervais Henrie	28 October 2020	present

Parliamentary leaders

The members serving as Leader of Government Business since 1993:^[12]

Legislature	Member	Party	Entered office	Left office
First National Assembly	Danny Faure	Seychelles People's Progressive Front	30 July 1993	1998
Second National Assembly	Patrick Herminie	Seychelles People's Progressive Front	30 March 1998	2002
Third National Assembly	Patrick Herminie	Seychelles People's Progressive Front	17 December 2002	2007
Fourth National Assembly	Marie-Louise Potter	Seychelles People's Progressive Front	29 May 2007	2011
Fifth National Assembly	Marie-Louise Potter	People's Party	2011	March 2012[13]
	Marie-Antoinette Rose	People's Party	March 2012	May 2016[14]
	Charles DeCommarmond	People's Party	7 June 2016[14]	September 2016
Sixth National Assembly	Charles DeCommarmond	United Seychelles	27 September 2016	28 October 2020
Seventh National Assembly	Bernard Georges	Linyon Demokratik Seselwa	28 October 2020	present

The members serving as Leader of the Opposition since 1993:^[12]

Legislature	Member	Party	Entered office	Left office
First National Assembly	James Mancham	Seychelles Democratic Party	30 July 1993	1998
Second National Assembly	Wavel Ramkalawan	Seychelles National Party	30 March 1998	2002
Third National Assembly	Wavel Ramkalawan	Seychelles National Party	17 December 2002	2007
Fourth National Assembly	Wavel Ramkalawan	Seychelles National Party	29 May 2007	2011
Fifth National Assembly	David Pierre	Popular Democratic Movement	2011	15 May 2016
	Francesca Monnaie	Popular Democratic Movement	16 May 2016	September 2016
Sixth National Assembly	Wavel Ramkalawan	Linyon Demokratik Seselwa	27 September 2016	28 October 2020
Seventh National Assembly	Sebastien Pillay	United Seychelles	28 October 2020	present

2020 National Assembly elections

Main articles: 2020 Seychellois parliamentary election and 7th National Assembly (Seychelles)

The members of the seventh National Assembly (2020)

On 25 October, Wavel Ramkalawan was declared the winner of the presidential election with 54.91% of the vote, marking the first peaceful transfer of presidential power between different political parties since independence in 1976. He had run unsuccessfully in the presidential elections from 1998 onward. Danny Faure attended Ramkalawan's victory speech; in his speech, Ramkalawan emphasized reconciliation: "In this election, there were no losers, there were no winners — our country was given the opportunity as the ultimate winner."^[15]

President

Candidate		Running mate	Party	Votes	%
	Wavel Ramkalawan	Ahmed Afif	Linyon Demokratik Seselwa	35,562	54.91
	Danny Faure	Maurice Loustau-Lalanne	United Seychelles	28,178	43.51
	Alain St Ange	Peter Sinon	One Seychelles	1,021	1.58
Total				64,761	100.00
Valid votes				64,761	98.10
Invalid/blank votes				1,256	1.90
Total votes				66,017	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				74,634	88.45
Source: ECS

National Assembly

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				FPTP	PR	Total	+/–
	Linyon Demokratik Seselwa	35,202	54.84	20	5	25	+6
	United Seychelles	27,185	42.35	6	4	10	–4
	One Seychelles	1,420	2.21	0	0	0	New
	Seychellois Alliance	70	0.11	0	0	0	New
	Independents	317	0.49	0	0	0	0
Total		64,194	100.00	26	9	35	+2
Valid votes		64,194	97.30
Invalid/blank votes		1,784	2.70
Total votes		65,978	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		74,634	88.40
Source: ECS

By constituency

Constituency		LDS		US		OS		Others		Valid	Total	Turnout	Registered
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
1	Anse Aux Pins	1496	52.8	1254	44.2	84	3.0			2834	2916	88	3304
2	Anse Boileau	1564	53.1	1340	45.5	41	1.4			2945	3012	89	3398
3	Anse Etoile	2161	62.0	1273	36.5	50	1.4			3484	3585	88	4064
4	Anse Royale	1343	46.4	1484	51.3	66	2.3			2893	2893	86	3375
5	Au Cap	1845	61.7	1081	36.2	41	1.4	23	0.8	2990	3071	88	3509
6	Baie Lazare	1324	55.0	1083	45.0					2407	2481	90	2756
7	Baie Ste Anne	1289	43.5	1383	46.7	292	9.9			2964	3051	89	3444
8	Beau Vallon	1727	60.0	913	31.7			239	8.3	2879	2963	87	3421
9	Bel Air	1025	51.7	870	43.9	87	4.4			1982	2028	88	2315
10	Belombre	1726	63.2	1005	36.8					2731	2822	87	3261
11	Cascade	1317	54.2	1084	44.6	27	1.1			2428	2495	90	2785
12	English River	1429	57.5	980	39.5	50	2.0	25	1.0	2484	2575	89	2908
13	Glacis	1713	62.2	985	35.8	55	2.0			2753	2826	86	3270
14	Grand Anse (Mahe)	1428	67.6	685	32.4					2113	2183	88	2478
15	Grand Anse (Praslin)	1296	51.8	1103	44.0	105	4.2			2504	2521	90	2810
16	Ile Perseverance	1438	53.2	1098	40.6	167	6.2			2703	2826	92	3083
17	Inner Islands	665	37.1	1105	61.7	22	1.2			1792	1838	90	2046
18	Les Mamelles	1177	58.1	827	40.8			22	1.1	2026	2084	90	2326
19	Mont Buxton	1449	58.5	993	40.1	35	1.4			2477	2552	89	2882
20	Mont Fleuri	1317	58.9	919	41.1		0.0			2236	2305	87	2643
21	Plaisance	1452	53.2	1221	44.8	55	2.0			2728	2845	87	3257
22	Pointe Larue	966	46.2	1096	52.4	28	1.3			2090	2142	89	2400
23	Port Glaud	870	48.4	929	51.6					1799	1856	92	2008
24	Roche Caiman	776	44.4	781	44.7	192	11.0			1749	1803	91	1990
25	Saint Louis	1281	59.9	781	36.5			78	3.6	2140	2187	85	2572
26	Takamaka	1128	54.7	912	44.2	23	1.1			2063	2118	91	2329
Total		35202	54.8	27185	42.3	1420	2.2	387	0.6	64194	65978	88	74634
Source: ECS

See also

• History of Seychelles
• Legislative branch
• List of national legislatures
• Rosie Bistoquet

References

1. Ernesta, Sharon (August 2, 2018). "8 facts about the logo of the Seychelles National Assembly". www.seychellesnewsagency.com. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
2. "New LDS-strong National Assembly sworn in". Seychelles Nation. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
3. Allagain, Stanley. "Our History – The National Assembly of Seychelles".
4. "Seychelles National Assembly Election 2020". Election Commission Seychelles. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
5. "Standing Orders, 2020". The National Assembly of Seychelles. 2020-10-30. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
6. "The Parliamentarian: Journal of the Parliaments of the Commonwealth". 1962.
7. "The Parliamentarian: Journal of the Parliaments of the Commonwealth". 1970.
8. MacGregor, Francis E. (September 12, 2004). A Parliamentary History of Seychelles. F.E. MacGregor. ISBN 9789993160007 – via Google Books.
9. "The Parliamentarian: Journal of the Parliaments of the Commonwealth". 1978.
10. "MFA Press Statement Presentation of Credentials". www.mfa.gov.sg.
11. "Dr Patrick Herminie is the new National Assembly Speaker-Wilby Lucas new Deputy Speaker, former Speaker McGregor retires -Archive -Seychelles Nation". nation.sc.
12. "History of the National Assembly". The National Assembly of Seychelles. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
13. Georges. "Ambassador Potter retires from public service". Ministry of Youth Sports & Culture. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved 2022-01-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
14. "Seychelles' National Assembly approves ambassador nominations". www.seychellesnewsagency.com. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
15. "Seychelles election: Wavel Ramkalawan in landmark win". BBC News. 2020-10-25. Retrieved 2020-10-27.

External links

• Official website