Electoral commission: Seychelles presidential vote will go to runoff

The electoral board said on Sunday that there was no clear winner in the first round of voting for president of Seychelles, so there will be a runoff between Patrick Herminie, the leader of the opposition, and Wavel Ramkalawan, the current president.

Ramkalawan was trying to stop the party that had been in power in Africa’s richest country per capita for four decades from coming back.

The western Indian Ocean archipelago is a great place for China, Gulf countries, and India to develop and work together on security.

The head of the United Seychelles (US) party, Herminie, got 48.8% of the vote, and Ramkalawan of the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) party came in second with 46.4%, according to the election commission.

In the first round, neither candidate got more than 50% of the vote, which is needed to win easily.

The US party also made big gains in the National Assembly. It won 15 seats through direct elections and an extra four seats through proportional representation, giving it a clear majority in the house.

The ruling party lost seats in the legislature to the LDS, which won 11 district seats and 4 proportional seats.

From October 9th to 11th, the two front-runners in the presidential race will face off in a second round that will decide the winner.

The winner will be in charge for five years.

The first round took place from Thursday to Saturday and almost 82% of people who were registered to vote did so, according to the electoral board.