The Constitution under Article 84 makes provision for the Leader of the Opposition (LOTO) in the National Assembly. He or she is elected by the opposition Members of the Assembly. The role of the Leader of the Opposition is further emphasized in Article 94(3) of the Constitution and in the Standing Orders of the National Assembly.
Hon. Sebastien Pillay, was elected as the Leader of the Opposition of the 7th Assembly on 28th of October 2020.
Party: United Seychelles
Type: Proportionately Elected Member
Email: spillay@nationalassembly.sc
Contact the Office of the Leader of the Opposition
Tel: +248 428 5600
Ms Eugenia Allagain
Personal Assistant to the Leader of the Opposition
eallagain@nationalassembly.sc
Biography of the Leader of the Opposition
The Honorable Member, Mr. Sebastien Pillay was born on the 26th January 1978.
Hon. Pillay completed his Bachelor of Education at the Edith Cowan University in Western Australia in 2004. He later completed his Master of Arts in Educational Leadership & Innovation with the University of Warwick in the UK in 2008.
Before becoming a Member of Parliament, Hon. Pillay started his career with the Ministry of Education as a Mathematics teacher and then went on to become the Head of Department. He was appointed to the post of Deputy Head Teacher and subsequently became a Senior Education Officer before moving to the University of Seychelles as a Lecturer. Hon. Pillay was also eventually the Director General for Cabinet and Presidential Affairs where he acquired sound knowledge on policy design implementation.
Hon. Pillay is currently the Leader of the Opposition for the 7th National Assembly Cohort and has been a Member of the National Assembly of Seychelles for over 10 years. He is presently the Chair of the Finance and Public Accounts Committee.
In October 2011, he was nominated as a proportionally elected Member in the 5th National Assembly and was a Member of several Committees.
In September 2016, he was again nominated as a Proportionally elected Member of the 6th National Assembly for the Parti Lepep political Party.
He has been a member of numerous parliamentary committees that deals with budget oversight, legal frameworks and governance. He is the presently the Chair of the Finance and Public Accounts Committee. He has been actively involved with the formulation and amendment of key legislative frameworks which includes the Constitution, the Standing Orders of the National Assembly and the Employment Act.
Hon. Pillay has represented the National Assembly of Seychelles on numerous missions internationally that focused on various issues pertaining to democracy, trade, election assessment, parliamentary diplomacy, governance and budget accountability. He gladly attended the Finance & Public Accounts Workshop held at Westminster, the First Commonwealth Parliamentary Forum and the Commonwealth Parliamentarians Programme that was part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Hon. Pillay was also the Head of Mission for the CPA UK General Elections Observer Mission.