Wavel Ramkalawan

Wavel Ramkalawan (2020)

Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan (born March 15, 1961 on Mahé , Seychelles ) is an Anglican priest and the fifth President of the Seychelles since October 26, 2020 .

Life

Youth and education

Wavel Ramkalawan was born on Mahé, the main island of the Seychelles. His family lived in simple circumstances, he was the youngest of three siblings. His great-grandfather Huryychurn came from Gopalganj , Bihar and emigrated to Mauritius , where he worked as an Indentured Laborer on a sugar cane plantation. After his death, his great-grandmother emigrated to the Seychelles with two sons. His father worked as a metal worker and his mother as a teacher. Ramkalawan received his education at Seychelles College , the elite school for boys. He began his studies at St Paul's Theological College in Mauritius and continued it at theBirmingham University . He was ordained as a priest in 1985 and returned to the Seychelles, where he initially served in various parishes until he was promoted to Priest-in-charge des Parish Holy Savior .

Political commitment

Through his work as a priest, Ramkalawan came to be politically active. Through his pastoral work, he came into contact with numerous people who were subjected to repression and human rights violations by the government. At the time, the church was the only institution that could openly address abuses.

In 1990 Ramkalawan delivered a high-profile sermon that was broadcast on the radio . In it he questioned the practice of the then one-party government and expressed the people's desire for greater freedoms, for respect for human rights and the rule of law. This sermon inspired the movement for political freedom and democracy in Seychelles. In 1991, still in his role as pastor, he joined forces with other opposition figures, including Roger Mancienne and Jean-François Ferrari , to found the Parti Seselwa . The original underground organization became a party and he became its leader.

Opposition leader and president

When the government again allowed a democratic multi-party system under national and international pressure in 1992 , Parti Seselwa was the first political party to register and provide the government's opposition. In 1992 she took part directly in the elections to the Constitutional Commission , but where she received only 4% of the vote and did not qualify to participate in the commission. When the new constitution came into force in 1993, two other opposition parties united with Parti Seselwa to form the United Opposition (UO) and run in the 1993 general election. The party won 9% of the vote, whereupon Ramkalawan moved as a member of the National Assembly .

In 1998 Ramkalawan led his party in the second election. The party won 27% of the vote this time around and was able to move into the National Assembly with three MPs , relegating the Democratic Party of former President James Mancham to third place. Ramkalawan became the party's first directly elected member of the Assembly. He won his home district of St Louis, which he represented from then on. In addition, he was elected Leader of the Opposition , a post he has also held since then.

In the 2001 presidential election, Ramkalawan received 45% of the vote; he lost to the 54% of the vote that President France-Albert René received. The next year Ramkalawan led his party under the name Seychelles National Party (SNP) in the national assembly elections. The party was able to increase the number of its MPs to seven and the number of representatives elected on a proportional basis to four. In 2005 Ramkalawan took a sabbatical from his clerical duties in order to fully concentrate on his political duties. Even so, he lost in the 2006 presidential election to James Alix Michel .

In the 2015 presidential election there was a runoff between Ramkalawan and Michel, in which Ramkalawan was narrowly defeated with 49.85% of the vote.

In the 2020 presidential election, which was combined with the National Assembly elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic , Ramkalawan beat incumbent Danny Faure , who ran for the LDS ( Linyon Demokratie Seselwa ), with 54.9% of the votes October 2020 solemnly sworn in as the new President of the Seychelles.

Familiar

He is married and has three children.

Web links

Commons : Wavel Ramkalawan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Seychelles National Party

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Indian-Origin Candidate to Be Seychelles President, Ending Ruling Party's 43-Year Rule , thewire.in , October 25, 2020
2. ↑ The new President of the Seychelles is a priest. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . October 25, 2020, accessed October 28, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Up Close ... with Wavel Ramkalawan, politician, priest and family person , pfsr.org, February 23, 2017