President Mancham Removed by a Coup:

Although the Seychelles Democratic Party (SDP)/Seychelles People's Unity Party (SPUP) coalition appeared to operate smoothly, political divisions between the two parties continued. On 5 June 1977, during Mancham's absence at the London Commonwealth Conference, supporters of Prime Minister René overthrew Mancham in a smoothly executed coup and installed René as President.

President René suspended the constitution and dismissed the parliament. The country was ruled by decree until June 1979, when a new constitution was adopted.

Repeated Coup Attempts to Remove One-Party State:

In November 1981, a group of mercenaries attempted to overthrow the René government but failed when they were detected at the airport and repelled. The government was threatened again by an army mutiny in August 1982, but it was quelled after 2 days when loyal troops, reinforced by Tanzanian forces, recaptured rebel-held installations.

A Return to Democracy:

At an Extraordinary Congress of the Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF) on 4 December 1991, President René announced a return to the multiparty system of government after almost 16 years of one-party rule. On 27 December 1991, the Constitution of Seychelles was amended to allow for the registration of political parties. Among the exiles returning to Seychelles was James Mancham, who returned in April 1992 to revive his party, the Democratic Party (DP).

By the end of that month, eight political parties had registered to contest election to the constitutional commission, which took place on 23-26 July 1992.

A New Constitution:

The constitutional commission was made up of 22 elected members, 14 from the SPPF and 8 from the DP. It commenced work on 27 August 1992 with both President René and Mancham calling for national reconciliation and consensus on a new democratic constitution. A consensus text was agreed upon on 7 May 1993, and a referendum to approve it was called for 15-18 June. The draft was approved with 73.9% of the electorate in favor of it and 24.1% against.

Multiparty Elections:

23-26 July 1993 saw the first multiparty presidential and legislative elections held under the new constitution, as well as a resounding victory for President René. Three political groups contested the elections – the SPPF, the DP, and the United Opposition (UO) – a coalition of three smaller political parties, including Parti Seselwa. Two other smaller opposition parties threw in their lot with the DP. All participating parties and international observer groups accepted the results as "free and fair."

France-Albert René Returned to Power:

Three candidates contested the 20-22 March 1998 presidential election – France-Albert René, SPPF; James Mancham, DP; and Wavel Ramkalawan – and once again President René and his SPPF party won a landslide victory. The President's popularity in elections jumped to 66.6% in 1998 from 59.5% in 1993, while the SPPF garnered 61.7% of the total votes cast in the 1998 National Assembly election, compared to 56.5% in 1993.

James Alix Michel Takes Over:

On 14 April 2004 James Alix Michel was appointed by France-Albert René as his successor. Presidential elections were held in July 2006 and Michel won his first elected term (expected to last five years). The final vote count was 53.73% for Michel to 45.71% for opposition alliance candidate and Seychelles National Party (SNP) leader, Wavel Ramkalawan. Despite the electoral process for the 2006 presidential elections being considered credible by international observers the SNP opposition party boycotted the National Assembly for six-months. President Michel dissolved the National Assembly in March 2007 and held new elections to fill the vacated seats. Under a system of proportional representation, the SPPF won five seats and the SNP/DP alliance won four seats..

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_{(Text from Public Domain material, US Department of State Background Notes.)}