Presidential election |19 August 2020
Mr Volc猫re
Ralph Volc猫re to run for presidency as an independent candidate
听
Ralph Volc猫re, the editor of the Seychelles Independent newspaper, has announced that he will be running in the October 2020 presidential election as an independent candidate, with a rallying call to Seychellois to take this unique opportunity 鈥渢o create a new Seychelles鈥.
Launching his slogan 鈥Seselwa avan Tou鈥, which is also the motto of his weekly newspaper, Mr Volc猫re said that he wants to rally Seychellois in a unique opportunity to create a new Seychelles away from the old politics currently practiced by the governing party and the current opposition.
鈥淲hen we say 鈥楽eselwa avan Tou鈥 we mean our wellbeing, our health, our traditional way of living, we mean priority over foreigners in jobs and in access to land, our community, our freedom of expression 鈥 in a time when the country needs to turn over a new leaf.鈥
Mr Volc猫re said: 鈥淪eychellois have a god-sent opportunity with Covid-19 changing how the world works to think hard and change the way this country is run and goes into the future.
鈥淎nd Covid-19 has just sent us the greatest reminder of all that we need to be first an educated and healthy island nation, in order to be able to take better control of our country and its future鈥.
鈥淲e will never ever have a better chance in our lifetime to press the reset button and give the Seychellois a fresh start in life, and create a unique society in a unique Seychelles鈥.鈥
Mr Volc猫re says he will campaign on a four-pronged strategy for a brighter and happier future for the Seychellois, by strengthening four key pillars of society: better quality EDUCATION, better HEALTH 鈥 which will include that proper legislations are put in place for orderly use of cannabis and better education on healthy eating, since the Future of Health is in Prevention 鈥 a genuine embrace of the Seychellois Creole CULTURE and our way of life, and structure a better ECONOMIC & SOCIAL fabric 鈥 all held together by a better sense of Spirituality.
鈥淎n important part of my Health message,鈥 said Mr Volc猫re, 鈥渋s that cannabis can save lives in many cases, and if managed properly, can be an important strategy to wean people off hard drugs such as heroin.鈥
Turning to the coming elections he said: 鈥淭he current government and the opposition is what we Seychellois call 鈥楤onnen blan, blan bonnen鈥, and replacing one by the other is like 鈥榮orti dan labarb tonm dan moustas!鈥. They pretend to disagree and argue in public but both leaders are in cahoots and exchange favours when we鈥檙e not looking, all for their self-interests.
鈥淧ersonal interests are not going to get us out of where we are and into a brighter future. We will get there only by working together irrespective of gender, traits, religion and colour of our shirts. This is why I鈥檝e chosen a neutral white as my campaign colour鈥.
Mr Volc猫re says he aims to rally all the voices who would like to say goodbye to the ruling party and the current opposition and make a fresh start, and give all our professionals and budding entrepreneurs a chance.
鈥淲hile we value, and cannot do without, the contributions of big business, at the end of the day it鈥檚 the small Seychellois, with their small businesses, their modest daily efforts that will get our country to rise from this Covid mess and work together to shine and be happy again鈥..
鈥淭hese are the people I鈥檓 routing for,鈥 he said.
Mr Volc猫re added that besides his core four-pillar foundation he will use his accumulated knowledge and life experience of 60 years to bring good people together to address several serious ills and structural problems in our society.
He cited among the top concerns: police inefficiency, over-dependence on welfare, work ethics, corrupt practices in (several) departments and organisations鈥..
鈥淭he new generation of Seychellois must learn that it IS possible to be a politician without having to resort to corruption.
鈥淚t IS possible to have a successful country without selling thousands of plots of land to foreigners like in the recent past.
鈥淚n today鈥檚 digital world it IS possible to score great achievements and even become world famous by being based and working in Seychelles. And this is what I would like our Youth to believe in.鈥
Mr Volc猫re says that he will be announcing his running mate in due course.
听
Press release from the office of the editor, Seychelles Independent