Page 13 - 41st Summit Brochure

PROFILE NEW LEADERS

H.E. Wavel Ramkalawan
President of the Republic of Seychelles

HIS EXCELLENCY Wavel Ramkalawan was sworn in as President of the Republic of
Seychelles on 26 October 2020 after winning the presidential election held on 22-24
October, with 54.9 percent of the popular vote. The former opposition leader, who contested
the 2020 presidential poll under a Linyon Demokratik Seselwa or Seychelles Democratic
Alliance (SDA) ticket, becomes the fifth president of Seychelles. Speaking soon after the
announcement of the results in the capital Victoria, he called for unity and pledged to work
for all of the people of Seychelles regardless of their political affiliation, saying it is important
to reconcile our people to go forward.

Early Life and Education
President Ramkalawan was born in Mahé, the principal island of Seychelles on 15 March 1961. He was born into a modest
family, the youngest of three children. His father was a metalworker and his mother a primary school teacher. He is an
ordained minister of the Anglican Church and started his career as a priest after completing primary and secondary
education at the Seychelles College. He was ordained in 1985 following studies at St Paul’s Theological College in Mauritius,
followed by further studies in theology at Birmingham University. Returning to Seychelles, he worked in several parishes,
rising to become priest-in-charge of the parish of The Holy Saviour. He is married to Linda and has three children.

Political Career
Through his pastoral work, he came into contact with people affected by social and civil injustices, and it was his work 11
mission as a priest that led him into politics. In 1991 he joined others to form the Parti Seselwa, initially a pressure group,
and became its leader. After the coming into force of the new Constitution in 1993, two other opposition parties joined
Parti Seselwa to form The United Opposition (UO) and contested the 1993 general elections, winning nine percent of the
vote, thus enabling it to appoint one member (Ramkalawan) to the National Assembly.

Leader of Opposition
In 1998, he led the UO to the second multi-party general elections, polling 27 percent of the national vote and increasing
its National Assembly representation to three, becoming the first directly elected member of the party in the Assembly by
winning his home constituency of St Louis. He was elected Leader of the Opposition, a post he relinquished in 2011 when
his party boycotted the National Assembly elections. In December 2015, he led a united opposition in a presidential election
but lost by one percent. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1993 - 2011 and 2016 - 2020; and as Leader of the
Opposition from 1998 - 2011 and 2016 - 2020. In 2016, his party won the majority in the National Assembly elections
and he became again the Leader of the Opposition, leading a majority in the Legislature. He contested for the presidency
five times prior to 2020.

President of Seychelles
On 25 October 2020, he won the presidential election, the first victory for an opposition candidate since independence.
Prior to this, he has held various leadership positions including leading the National Assembly delegation at the Pan
African Parliament and the SADC Parliamentary Forum, where he chaired the Democratization, Governance and Human
Rights Committee. In the National Assembly, he chaired the Truth & National Reconciliation Committee, the Defence
and Security Committee, the Islands Committee, and the Finance & Public Accounts Committee.
On 4 November 2020, a week after being sworn in as President, he took on the additional portfolios of Defence,
Legal Affairs, Public Administration, National Planning and National Security.