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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Seychelles: A Transition from One Party State to Multi-Party Democracy
Author:Mohanty, HrudanandaISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:African Currents
Volume:13
Issue:25
Period:April
Pages:51-66
Language:English
Geographic term:Seychelles
Subjects:political change
multiparty systems
Politics and Government
Abstract:The decolonization process that swept through Africa in the 1960s saw the emergence of two important political formations in the Seychelles: the left-oriented Seychelles Peoples United Party (SPUP), led by Albert Rene, which campaigned for independence, and the pro-capitalist Seychelles Democratic Party (SDP), led by James Mancham, which adovcated closer union or integration with the colonial State. British pressure led to the formation of a coalition between the two parties and it was under a coalition government with Mancham as president and Rene as prime minister that Seychelles became independent on 28 June 1976. The coalition was ousted within a year by an SPUP coup. From 1979 to 1991 Seychelles was ruled as a one-party State, with the former SPUP, remodelled as the Seychelles Peoples Progressive Front (SPPF), as the sole legal party, and Rene as president. Internal and external pressures forced Rene to abandon his one-party policy and adopt a multiparty system in December 1991. The transition to pluralism was not smooth. A new constitution came into operation with the holding of elections to the presidency and the national assembly in July 1993. Notes, ref. (Also published in: Africa Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 2 (1999), p. 89-103.)
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