The order over the Assumption Island can decide next president

The small, almost barren island in the Indian Ocean has become a battlefield of election this weekend in Seycheli, which has caused global environmental care.

The island of Associate, in the Western Indian Ocean, has a little seemingly seeming, which would put even the most curious and fearless travelers of the pulse races.

Scane almost naked and bubble hot, with little human-created structures, it covers an area similar to London Heathrow Airport and, perhaps, just a little more picturesque.

Still, this tropical island anomaly – both a geographically distant and far from the popular ideal of lavish paradise – has become a hot spot for geopolitical forces and eco -warriors, plus political lightning in the Seychelles, the country that owns it.

Situated 1.140 km (700 miles) of Seychel’s most populated main island, mothers, suitable for tourism, Associate Island is a sausage, a low-level coral finger enclosed by Kazuarina.

It was devastated because of the nitrogen -rich Guano (ejection of a sea bird) and agricultural use ended decades ago.

But now the strategic position and the environmental value of the island is invaluable.

The island is located near the road of this century – the lively commercial shipping sails carrying goods and materials from East Asia to Africa and outside. India wanted to build a military base under a suggestion, but was rejected.

Permanent or factual property has so far been out of cards thanks to the pressure from seychellois proud audience. As the small republic goes to the ballot boxes in the presidential and parliamentary ballots, the assumption is a key selection of electoral relationship.

“At least under my watch, there will never be a foreign military base in Seychelles,” President Wavel Ramkalawan told BBC News on the eve of the poll. “We are not interested in geopolitics. We stay out.”

So the leasing of the island of Assumption, or at least part of it, to the Qatari Royal Family has become sensitivity. Through an investment company in the Middle East, Assets Group, Qataris are currently building an exclusive luxury resort with 40 Villa, with a modernized concrete airport capable of receiving executive jets away from prying eyes.

“The assumption has one of the longest beaches in the Seychelles, which is probably one of the most important beaches for breeding green turtles in our country,” says the campaign to protect Lucy Harster. “This is a really important place to save.”

Most importantly, the island is the door to the UNESCO Aldabra Atoll list, only 27 km (17 miles) north. One of the most fragile and fragile ecosystems in the world, Aldabra is home to 400 species found anywhere else on the planet. Sir David Attenborough described him as “one of the largest natural treasures in the world.”

But noisy neighbors risk disrupting the delicate balance of nature.

“We have seen this picture of a turtle shell that is broken by construction machines,” says G -Haza Harter. “Where is the supervision? There is no transparency. The way these decisions are made is well below the table.”

Announcement of developmental development issued by the country’s planning authority in May this year seems to have been ignored. The construction works continue.

Last week, two groups of campaigns, friends of Aldabra and Hearts, filed an order against the government in the country’s Constitutional Court to stop the project, in anticipation of a more fulfillment, pronounced an independent survey of environmental impact and guarantee that international observers will ensure that nature is protected.

A frame, ordained an Anglican priest who signed the deal with Qatar last year, is not unknown. He is in a hurry to say that the remote Seychelles, with a population of just over 120,000, faces unique challenges. The rental rental, including Qatari Octare for 70 years with an advance payment of $ 20 million ($ 15 million), was just calculating.

“What’s wrong with that?” he asks. “We have all those hotton hotels. The Cathars are introducing (a luxury hospitality operator) Rosewood as a hotel company that will manage it. We have to look for investments to survive.”

The priest and his party, Linion Democritic Seseluva (LDS), won Power five years ago on a strong corruption ticket, holding a position in the midst of a global pandemic.

Covid-19 quickly emptys guest hotels and houses, dependent on tourism and shortly after, public offices. But despite the agile response to the government and the remarkably quick economic apostate of Seychelles, its popularity.

The protection of the Assumption is more convincing to many voters than the positive economic indicators of their country: moderate gross national debt compared to GDP (58%) -well below much larger and more developed economies; GDP GDP growth of 5.8% this year; restore foreign reserves ($ 800 million); The low unemployment rate (3.5%) and the recent risk upgrade from foreign investors according to Fitch’s ratings to “stable”.

The numbers can lie, insists on the main racer of the Presidency Framed, Dr. Patrick Hermini, leader of the opposition party UNITED Seychelles (USA).

“We are very skeptical of all these estimates,” he says. “We are getting gorgeous. People cannot afford two meals a day. These ratings are based on statistics given by this government. And this government is known for cooking books.” The government denies any misconduct.

Many believe that the order of the assumption can help to sweep D -R Hermini of Power, as it is campaigning for policy cleaning and getting rid of the public administration of corruption.

He tells the BBC that his own arrest two years ago on suspicion of using witchcraft for political profit, he “shocked him.” “I was even more shocked that the president actually believed that a coup could be done with the help of witchcraft. And the order was even more alleged -they came here to seek dead human bodies and bones.”

The Party of Medica, re-branding the late President France-Albert Renee, the notorious repressive socialist SPPF, still proudly refers to the name and image of Renee. He has committed himself to impetus to Renee’s well -being, reducing retirement age to 63, reducing bus rates by 40% and increasing social security benefits.

However, Hermini has promised that he will not return to the dark past of the Seychelles, which involves the murder, exile and disappearance of political dissidents.

Such assurances have encouraged some flag carriers to the Ramkalvan government to switch their fidelity, including Alexander Pierre, hosted by LDS’s victorious election campaign five years ago. His supporters accuse him of betrayal as he accuses the government of flip flops and fulfills only one third of its manifesto promises after five years.

For some ISLAND ISLAND, it looks like a broken promise too much.

Of the initial 11 hopes of the President – one for every 7,000 elect – eight remain in the race. A second round leak is possible if the initial vote does not lead to a direct winner. Voters will also choose members for their national assembly in 26 seats.

The owner of the Firebrand newspaper and an independent presidential candidate, Ralph Wolker, has been using his weekly publication to condemn the priest’s chairman as a self-serving autocrat, has since been banished from the calls of the State House of the Press.

“Every project, every sector, corruption is there,” says Volker, electoral but potential king of the second round.

“What I’m fighting is justice,” he says. “You can’t bypass the legal process. It doesn’t matter who you are.”

Volcere himself fell under fire to support the cause of Mukesh Valabhji, a rich businessman of Seychellos and a former adviser to the late President Renee President for the illegal possession of a weapon. He also expects a second ordeal on accusations of corruption, along with former first lady Sarah Renee and others in which Valabji is Accused of siphoning of tens of millions of dollars of cashS He denies any misconduct.

A major among Volcere’s policies is the decriminalization of the entertainment cannabis, which he said would bring Lords of Seycheli’s drugs from business and will lower the large number of people in the work age addicted to drugs – currently 10%, according to official government data.

Much of the heroin landing on these islands is drawn from the shipping sails that pass near the island of Assumption. No one has yet found a way to stop it. Many suspicious interests are guilty, but they are afraid to name names.

“What has been missing from a very, very long time,” says Walker, “is good governance, transparency and accountability. If this is put into practice, then we are 50% there.”

The election this weekend can give a more clear feeling of whether or not this is probably not.