The government in Seychelles is a multi-party republic. The parliament of Seychelles is based on a unicameral framework. The president is the head of state and elected through public voting for 5 years.

The National Assembly has the following Committees:

• The Standing Orders Committee- SOC
  • The Finance and Public Accounts Committee- FPAC
  • The International Affairs Committee-IAC
  • The Economic Reform Oversight Committee- EROC
  • The Committee on Government Assurances- COGA

The assembly comprises of 34 members, who are directly elected for a term of five years.

The major political parties in Seychelles are: 

• Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF)
  • Seychelles National Party (SNP)

The current president of Seychelles is James Michel of Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF), who won the presidency in July 2006.

(Source: mapsofworld, nationalassembly.sc  BBC,ipu.org)

Regulatory environment 

The country’s economic freedom score is 51.2, making its economy the 142^nd freest in the 2011 Index. Seychelles ranks 29^th out of 46 regional countries in Sub-Saharan Africa region.

(Source:Heritage.org)

Corruption perceptions index (CPI)

The Corruption Index (CPI) is a survey to measure the perceived level of corruption across countries worldwide. Seychelles is ranked 49^thin 2010 CPI index indicating that the corruption levels in public departments are low, especially as compared to neighbouring nations such as Madagascar, Maldives and Somalia.         

Seychelles grew on the CPI rankings since 2009, when it was ranked 54^th with a score of 4.8, indicating the perceived levels of corruption have increased in the country.

(Source:transparency.org)

Freedom of information

The Government of Seychelles majorly controls the media, TV stations, radio and the most popular newspaper, the Seychelles Nation.

(Source: BBC)

World Press Freedom Index 2010 ranks Seychelles at 65^th rank with a score of 18.0, indicating the media in Seychelles is moderately restricted.  

(Source: rsf.org)

Newspapers

• Seychelles Nation
  • The People
  • Regar
  • Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly

Judicial system

The judiciary in Seychelles consists of:

• Seychelles Court of Appeal
• The Supreme Court
• The Magistrates Court
• Employment tribunals
• The Family Tribunal

The Seychelles Court of Appeal is the highest court of justice and is the final court of appeal in the country. The Supreme Court is the next highest court in the country, and is in charge of civil claims, admiralty matters, matrimonial disputes and serious criminal charges.

Magistrates Court is comprised of lower value civil claims and less serious criminal charges. Lower tribunals like the employment tribunal and the family tribunal deal with domestic disputes.

(Source: bas.sc)

The total population of Seychelles for 2010 was estimated at 86,525, decreasing 0.9% over the previous year.

(Source:nsb.gov.sc) 

The gender ratio in the country is imbalanced, there are about 103.1 males for every 100 females.

(Source: UN) 

The mortality rate of infants (per 1,000 live births) was registered at 10.8in 2009.  The average life expectancy in Seychelles is 72.2.

(Source: nsb.gov.sc, africaneconomicoutlook)

The crude birth rate in 2008 was 18, and the death rate in the same year was 8.

(Source: World Bank)

In 2010, the population of people below 19 years of age was 30.9% of the total population. Furthermore, in 2010, 4.92% women and 2.94% men (% of total population) were aged above 65 years of age.

(Source: nsb.gov.sc)

In the country, the urban population growth rate from 2005 to 2010 was 1.4%, and the rural population growth rate was –0.6%.

(Source: UN)

The major ethnic groups in Seychelles are people from European, Asian and African descents.

(Source: state.gov) 

There is no railway infrastructure in the country. The total road length across the country is measured at 458 Km, of which 96.1% is paved.  

(Source: estandardsforum)

Ports  

There is only one port in Seychelles, the Port of Victoria.

(Source:world port source)

Airports

There are 14 airports in the country, of which 8 are paved. 

(Source: Air charter world)

Telecommunications networks

Telephone exchange line in Seychelles was 26,786 in 2009, whereas it was 26,078 in 2008. The number of landline connections in Seychelles has incresed steadily since 2007.

(Source:nsb.gov.sc)

The number of mobile subscribers increased from 2006 to 2009. In 2009 mobile subscribers were 126,858.

(Source:nsb.gov.sc)

Internet

In 2010, the total number of internet users was 33,900, or 38.4% of total population.

(Source:internetworldstats)