COUNTRY	Republic of Seychelles
ELECTION TYPE	Parliamentary
DATE	December 4-6, 2002

• 34 seats in the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale)

• Chief of State and Head of Government: President France Albert RENE
• Assembly: Seychelles has a unicameral National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) which consists of 34 seats.

• The president is elected by popular vote to serve a five-year term.
• Of the 34 members of the National Assembly, 25 are elected by popular vote. The remaining 9 seats are allocated proportionally amongst the parties who secured at least 10% of the votes. All members serve five-year terms.

• Party: Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF)
  Leader: France Albert RENE
  Seats won in this election: 23
  Seats won in the last election: 30
  
  
• Party: Seychelles National Party (SNP)**
  Leader: Wavel RAMKALAWAN
  Seats won in this election: 11
  Seats won in the last election: 3
  
  
• Party: Democratic Party (DP)
  Leader: James MANCHAM
  Seats won in this election: 0
  Seats won in the last election: 1
  
  

** SNP was previously the United Opposition party (OU)

• Parliamentary elections were last held on March 20-22, 1998.

• Population: 80,098 (July 2002 estimate)
• Number of registered voters: 54,847 (Based on the March 1998 parliamentary elections)

• President RENE dissolved parliament four months early on October 30, 2002 in an apparent attempt to deal with the economic crisis in Seychelles.
• Political parties are given until November 12th to select candidates for the upcoming elections.
• The main issue in the upcoming elections is the economic crisis in Seychelles, which is dependent on almost entirely on tourism and has suffered a drop in international income.