L elected president; percent
of vote - James MICHEL 53.73%, Wavel RAMKALAWAN 45.71%, Philippe
BOULLE 0.56%; note - this was the first election in which President
James MICHEL participated; he was originally sworn in as president
after former president France Albert RENE stepped down in April 2004

Legislative branch:

unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (34 seats; 25
members elected by popular vote, 9 allocated on a proportional basis
to parties winning at least 10% of the vote; to serve five-year
terms)
elections: last held 10-12 May 2007 (next to be held in 2012)
election results: percent of vote by party - SPPF 56.2%, SNP 43.8%;
seats by party - SPPF 23, SNP 11

Judicial branch:

Court of Appeal; Supreme Court; judges for both courts are appointed
by the president

Political parties and leaders:

Democratic Party or DP [James MANCHAM, Paul CHOW]; Seychelles
National Party or SNP [Wavel RAMKALAWAN] (formerly the United
Opposition or UO); Seychelles People's Progressive Front or SPPF
[France Albert RENE, James MICHEL] (the governing party)

Political pressure groups and leaders:

Roman Catholic Church
other: trade unions

International organization participation:

ACP, AfDB, AU, C, COMESA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt
(signatory), ICRM, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, InOC, Interpol,
IOC, ISO (correspondent), ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM, OIF, OPCW, SADC, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
(observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Jean Ronald JUMEAU
chancery: 800 Second Avenue, Suite 400C, New York, NY 10017
telephone: [1] (212) 972-1785
FAX: [1] (212) 972-1786

Diplomatic representation from the US:

the US does not have an embassy in Seychelles; the ambassador to
Mauritius is accredited to Seychelles

Flag description:

five oblique bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, red, white, and
green (bottom) radiating from the bottom of the hoist side

Economy
Seychelles

Economy - overview:

Since independence in 1976, per capita output in this Indian Ocean
archipelago has expanded to roughly seven times the
pre-independence, near-subsistence level, moving the island into the
upper-middle income group of countries. Growth has been led by the
tourist sector, which employs about 30% of the labor force and
provides more than 70% of hard currency earnings, and by tuna
fishing. In recent years