2011 Seychelles Elections

There!
It is done!
The Seychelles’ 2011 National Elections episode has run its course. The national political divide hardly shifted when in May, 85% voter participation returned the incumbent President to office with a 55% majority vote leaving the Challenger fulminating in the enduring 41% doldrums.
Backed by this renewed victorious political wind, the ruling Party made some deft manoeuvres to steam-roll through their not-too surprising strategic move for new National Assembly elections, with the declared intent to “eliminate the opposition”,.
Not surprisingly, the Political Opposition Alliance objected and promptly called for a boycott of the National Assembly Election, leaving the ruling party with little other option than to engineer a puppet opposition willing to be soundly defeated.
Thus ordered, so delivered.
The Observer Missions have declared the whole process as free and fair, filed their reports, made the customary recommendations to make our elections freer and fairer and left us to our own devices.
With a 74% voter participation, the ruling Party can now congratulate itself to having been properly and dutifully handed over a 100% majority in the National Assembly. In the face of the Opposition boycott and the lame challenging duck of the PDM, the “first-past-the-post” majority system has translated its 31,123 votes from the 69,480 registered voters into a minority 44.8% victory leading to a resounding and absolute control of the National Assembly!
The new MPs now have the task to convince the nation that they deserve their Honourable titles.
They must foremost understand that they represent a minority of the electorate and have been ushered into office by the quirks of our electoral system!
They must learn that being Honourable starts with ensuring that the National Assembly must at the very least, “(live) up to its constitutional responsibility of assuring more responsive and accountable governance” (October 2010 workshop )
It must strive to enact just laws that reflect national consensus to steer the country forward as opposed to rubber-stamping the wishes of the Executive.
There will be no honour to remain besotted with keeping the party line and not heeding the needs and aspirations of the silenced 55.2% of the electorate