Freedom in the World 1999 - Seychelles

1999 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 3.0
Civil Liberties: 3
Political Rights: 3

Overview

President France Albert René and his ruling Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF) party continued to exert nearly full control through a pervasive system of political patronage after being returned to power in the March 1998 elections. The government had more success in 1999 in implementing its own home-grown form of economic liberalization. Nearly all of the nation's hotels have been privatized, along with most of the tourist industry that the country relies heavily on for its foreign exchange. The government has also taken measures to reduce its fiscal deficit, which dropped from 26 percent of the gross domestic product in 1998 to about 13 percent in 1999.

René won a legitimate electoral mandate in the country's first multiparty elections in 1993. The 1998 polls were accepted as generally free and fair by opposition parties, which had waged a vigorous campaign. The Seychelles National Party of the Reverend Wavel Ramkalawan emerged as the strongest opposition group by espousing economic liberalization, which René had resisted.

The Seychelles, an archipelago of some 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, was a French colony until 1810. It was then colonized by Britain until independence in 1976. The country functioned as a multiparty democracy for only one year until René, then prime minister, seized power by ousting President James Mancham. Mancham and other opposition leaders operated parties and human rights groups in exile after René made his SPPF the sole legal party. He and his party continue to control government jobs, contracts, and resources. René won one-party show elections in 1979, 1984, and 1989. By 1992, the SPPF had passed a constitutional amendment to legalize opposition parties, and many exiled leaders returned to participate in a constitutional commission and multiparty elections.

President René, who also heads the country's defense and interior ministries, is reportedly in failing health. Vice President James Michel, who also heads a number of ministries, has assumed a more prominent role in daily government affairs and is viewed as René's likely successor.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

In free and largely fair presidential and legislative elections in March 1998, the Seychellois people were able to exercise their right to choose their representatives. As in 1993, SPPF control over state resources and most media gave ruling-party candidates significant advantages in the polls. The president and the national assembly are elected by universal adult suffrage. As amended in 1996, the 1993 constitution provides for a 34-member national assembly, with 25 members directly elected and 9 allocated on a proportional basis to parties with at least ten percent of the vote. Other amendments have strengthened presidential powers. Local governments composed of district councils were reconstituted in 1991 after their abolition two decades earlier. In the March 1998 elections, René won with 67 percent of the vote. The ruling SPPF won 30 national assembly seats.

The judiciary includes a supreme court, a constitutional court, a court of appeals, an industrial court, and magistrates' courts. Judges generally decide cases fairly, but still face interference in cases involving major economic or political actors.

Two private human rights-related organizations, Friends for a Democratic Society and the Center for Rights and Development, operate in the country along with other nongovernmental organizations. Churches in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation have also been strong voices for human rights and democratization. All function without government interference. Discrimination against foreign workers has been reported. Security forces have been accused of using excessive force, including torture and arbitrary detention, especially in attempting to curb crime.

Freedom of speech has improved since one-party rule ended in 1993, but self-censorship persists. There is one government daily newspaper, and at least two other newspapers support or are published by the SPPF. Independent newspapers are sharply critical of the government, but government dominance and the threat of libel suits restrict media freedom. Opposition parties publish several newsletters and other publications. The opposition weekly Regar has been sued repeatedly for libel under broad constitutional restrictions on free expression "for protecting the reputation, rights, and freedoms of private lives of persons" and "in the interest of defense, public safety, public order, public morality, or public health." One of the latest lawsuits was brought in March by the minister of land use and habitat. The government-controlled Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation, however, provided substantial coverage to opposition as well as government candidates during the last elections. Academic advancement is reportedly contingent on loyalty to the ruling party.

Women are less likely than men to be literate and have fewer educational opportunities. While almost all adult females are classified as "economically active," most are engaged in subsistence agriculture. Domestic violence against women is reportedly widespread, but is rarely prosecuted and only lightly punished. Islanders of Creole extraction face de facto discrimination. Nearly all of the Seychelles' political and economic life is dominated by people of European and Asian origin.

The right to strike is formally protected by the 1993 Industrial Relations Act, but is limited by several regulations. The SPPF-associated National Workers' Union no longer monopolizes union activity. Two independent unions are now active. The government does not restrict domestic travel, but may deny passports for reasons of "national interest." Religious freedom is respected.

Seychelles has few natural resources and little industry. The government, however, has begun to diversify the economy and move it away from its heavy reliance on tourism. Shortages of foreign exchange and the presence of inefficient state enterprises have kept growth sluggish. Since the early 1990s, the government has implemented home-grown economic reforms with some progress. They include a mix of reduced controls on the economy and increased economic liberalization.