Polls opened in the Indian Ocean islands nation of the Seychelles on Thursday for a presidential run-off, with environmental and economic questions at the forefront of the election. Seychelles has the highest wealth per capita in Africa — around $18,000 according to the World Bank — but is vulnerable to climate change and faces widespread drug addiction. Opposition leader Patrick Herminie narrowly defeated President Wavel Ramkalawan by 48.8 percent to 46.4 percent in the first-round last month, but neither reached the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off.The first two days of voting are reserved for essential workers and more remote inhabitants among the 115 islands that make up Seychelles, with most voters casting their ballots on Saturday.Herminie’s party, United Seychelles, which dominated the political scene from independence in 1976 until 2020, secured victory in last month’s parliamentary elections, taking 15 of 26 seats.As former head of the government’s anti-drug agency, Herminie has vowed to tackle sky-high heroin addiction, blamed in part on the fact the islands sit on a drug route between Africa and Asia. Another key issue has been the current government’s decision to lease a vast area of Assumption Island, which lies close to a UNESCO World Heritage marine reserve, for a Qatari-built luxury hotel with its own airstrip.Herminie has vowed to cancel the 70-year lease and accused Qatar of financing the ruling party’s campaign. Three quarters of the country’s roughly 120,000 citizens live on Mahe island, where the capital Victoria is located, according to 2024 World Bank data.The archipelago is vulnerable to climate change and is facing rising sea levels, the deterioration of the marine ecosystem — particularly its coral reefs — as well as landslides, flooding and drought.
