Seychelles holds early voting as many in the nation worry about a drug crisis and environment

VICTORIA, Seychelles (AP) — Early voting started Thursday across Seychelles as concerns over a drug crisis and environmental challenges facing the nation weigh heavily on the minds of many as they choose a new president and parliament.

President Wavel Ramkalawan hopes to hold on to the top post in this tourist haven and Africa’s smallest country, both in land area and population.

Ballots papers were flown to the outer islands and special polling stations opened for the elderly and essential workers for early voting, said election commission's chief, Manuella Amesbury. The presidential and parliamentary election will be held on Saturday.

Ramkalawan, an Anglican priest turned politician, became the first opposition leader since 1976 to defeat the ruling party when he made his sixth bid — and the first successful one — for the presidency in 2020.

This time around, he and his Linyon Demokratik Seselwa party campaigned on efforts for economic recovery, social development, and environmental sustainability.

His chief political rival, Patrick Herminie of the long-ruling United Seychelles Party, is a veteran lawmaker who was the speaker of the National Assembly from 2007 to 2016.

The president is elected for a five-year term. If no contender gets more than 50% of the vote, the two top placed candidates go into a runoff.

Seychelles has struggled with a growing drug crisis. A 2017 United Nations report described the country as a major drug transit route. The Global Organized Crime Index stated in 2023 that the island nation has one of the world’s highest rates of heroin addiction.

An estimated 6,000 people out of Seychelles' population of 120,000 use the drug, while independent analysts say addiction rates approach 10%. Most of the country's population lives on the island of Mahé, home to the capital of Victoria.

Critics say Ramkalawan has largely failed to rein in the drug crisis. His rival, Herminie, was also criticized as failing to stem the addiction rates while he was chairman of the country's Agency for the Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation from 2017 until 2020.

Gerald Edwin Julie, former program manager at the agency, said it was merely “a political tool” for Herminie, who he said had "no prior knowledge of drug addiction when appointed.”

The 115-island archipelago in the Indian Ocean has become synonymous with luxury and environmental travel, helping bump Seychelles to the top of the list of Africa's richest countries by gross domestic product per capita, according to the World Bank.

That has also fueled a growing middle class — and opposition to the ruling party.

A week before the elections, activists filed a constitutional case against the current government, challenging its recent decision to lease long-term a part of Assomption Island, the country's largest island, to a Qatari company for the development of a luxury hotel.

The lease, which includes the reconstruction of an airstrip to facilitate access for international flights, has ignited widespread criticism that the agreement favors foreign interests over Seychelles’ long-term welfare and sovereignty over its land.

Assomption lies close to Aldabra Atoll, a marine reserve recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. Environmental groups have demanded increased oversight and called for greater transparency in government decisions related to Seychelles sovereignty.

With its territory spread across an expanse of the Indian Ocean of almost 390,000 square kilometers (about 150,579 square miles), Seychelles is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, including rising sea levels, according to the World Bank and the U.N. Sustainable Development Group.

“The hotel development on Assomption has (been) clouded with controversy,” said Victoria Duthil, who was among those who filed the case against the government.

“Recent images of an injured tortoise and dredging that have emerged have highlighted how urgent the situation is,” she added. Dredging is the removal of sediment from water bodies and includes underwater excavation.

While Seychelles leads Africa in development metrics and has the lowest corruption rankings in the sub-Saharan Africa, the rampant corruption during the three-decade presidency of France-Albert Rene, which ended in 2004, remains fresh in the minds of many.

Tensions around transparency issues reemerged during this election campaign, with another presidential candidate, Kisna Louise, under scrutiny amid a legal investigation, while yet another, Maarco Francis, faces allegations of a forged university degree.

Paul Harry Michaud, a retired businessman, said the president should get an additional term.

“Wavel should have another five years,” he said. "The opposition had 43 years and they did nothing,” he said.

But Barry Gappy, a retired army official, expressed support for the opposition, saying “their manifesto was better than that of the ruling party.”

Associated Press writer Jack Denton in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Electoral commission staff monitor voting, inside a classroom as people cast their votes at the polling station at English River School in Victoria, Seychelles, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilie Chetty)

A police officer casts his vote at the English River School in Victoria, Seychelles, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilie Chetty)

People line up to cast their votes at the English River School in Victoria, Seychelles, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilie Chetty)

A police officer casts his vote at English River School in Victoria, Seychelles, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilie Chetty)

A woman casts her vote at English River School in Victoria, Seychelles, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilie Chetty)

President Wavel Ramkalawan of the Republic of Seychelles and presidential candidate for Linyon Demokratik Seselwa delivers a speech at a campaign rally at Freedom Square in Victoria, Seychelles, Sunday, Sep. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilie Chetty)

A supporter wears a hat pinned with the symbols of the Seychelles National Party, a former opposition political party, during a campaign rally at Freedom Square in Victoria, Seychelles, Sunday, Sep. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilie Chetty)

Supporters of Linyon Demokratik Seselwa's party attend a campaign rally at Freedom Square in Victoria, Seychelles, Sunday, Sep. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilie Chetty)

President Wavel Ramkalawan of the Republic of Seychelles and presidential candidate for Linyon Demokratik Seselwa delivers a speech at a campaign rally at Freedom Square in Victoria, Seychelles, Sunday, Sep. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilie Chetty)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two people were killed after a Russian drone attacked a minibus in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local officials said Saturday, in the latest barrage of civilian areas, a hallmark of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Seven people were also wounded in the attack, regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said. Hours later Russia attacked another minibus in Kherson, wounding the driver, he said.

Meanwhile, along the northern border with Belarus, Ukraine recorded “rather unusual” activity on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram on Saturday. Without elaborating, he said activity was seen on the Belarusian side of the border and that Ukraine would act if matters escalated.

“We are closely documenting and keeping the situation under control. If necessary, we will react,” he said.

Belarus, a close ally of the Kremlin, has allowed Russia to use its territory as a staging ground to send troops into Ukraine and to host some of Moscow’s tactical nuclear weapons.

On Ukraine's Black Sea coast, a Russian strike damaged port infrastructure in the city of Odesa. No casualties were reported.

Ukrainian civilians have endured relentless air assaults since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago. U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv over the past year have brought no respite, with Russia rejecting Ukraine’s offer of a ceasefire, and in recent weeks the Iran war has diverted international attention from Ukraine’s plight.

Meanwhile, on the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line, Russia claimed Saturday it had taken control of the village of Myropillia in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.

It was not possible to independently verify the battlefield claims, and Ukraine did not immediately comment.

In Russia, local officials in the Krasnodar region said that a fire that broke out Friday following a Ukrainian strike on an oil terminal in the Black Sea city of Tuapse was put out on Saturday.

Ukrainian drones have hit the oil refinery and export terminal in Tuapse on four occasions in just over two weeks, sparking fires that prompted local evacuations and sent up massive plumes of smoke.

Ukraine has escalated its long-distance strikes against Russian oil facilities in an effort to slash Moscow’s oil exports, a key source of funding for its grinding invasion of Ukraine. But the economic impact is so far unclear, as the rise in oil prices from the Iran war, and a related easing of U.S. sanctions, have helped replenish the Kremlin’s coffers.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

FILE - In this image taken from video released by Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev's Telegram channel, smoke rises after a drone attack on the oil refinery and terminal in Tuapse, Russia, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev Telegram channel via AP, File)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire a building following a Russian drone attack in Odesa region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire a building following a Russian drone attack in Odesa region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)