The Constitution of the Third Republic of Seychelles is the Supreme Law and establishes the country's system of government. It provides for three separate branches of the State, which puts in place a separation of powers– the Executive, the Legislature (or Parliament) and Judiciary.
The Executive
The Executive is the administrative arm of government and is responsible for putting into operation the laws passed by Parliament and administering the programs and services that are delivered by Government.
The head of state and government/Executive is the president, who is directly elected by popular vote and may hold office for up to two consecutive five-year terms.
The National Assembly
The National Assembly of Seychelles is the Legislative branch of Government and is a unicameral Parliament consisting of only one House.
The Constitution of the Third Republic of Seychelles provides for the establishment of the National Assembly, its composition, the election of Members and bestows upon the institution, the legislative power, to make and pass laws.
The Assembly currently comprises of up to 35 Members, of whom 26 are directly elected to represent Constituencies and 9 are proportionally elected. Members can belong to a political party or be Independent.
The Sittings of the Assembly are presided over by the Speaker.
Members from the political party with the majority of seats are led by a Leader of Government Business.
The party/parties which are not part of the Government form the Opposition and are led by the Leader of Opposition.
Members of the National Assembly serve five-year terms.
The Functions of the National Assembly
The functions of the National Assembly of Seychelles include making and passing laws, taking up a critical oversight role to check on the actions, state finances and policies of the Executive.
Only the National Assembly has the power to pass laws for every Seychellois and every person on the territory of Seychelles.It does that in two ways: passing laws proposed by the Executive through Public Bills and amending the constitution where necessary. Any change to the Constitution must be approved by the National Assembly.
Although the Assembly carries out its Assembly Business in a number of ways, such as debating Motions and addressing Questions to Ministers and scrutinising the national Budget, a large part of the oversight work also takes place in the work of Standing and Select Sessional Committees.
Procedures in the National Assembly
The National Assembly functions in line with the Standing Orders which regulate the details of its operation, such as how debates are to be conducted and how order is maintained. Meetings of the Assembly are chaired by the Speaker or Deputy Speaker or, in their absence, by a Member elected by the Assembly. The Speaker or Deputy Speaker remain in office until after new legislative elections are completed and a new Speaker is elected.
Members of the Assembly take an oath of allegiance before taking their seats and they are guaranteed freedom of speech in the Assembly and whatever they say cannot be the subject of action in any court. This improves the debates in that it guarantees that Members say what they need to say without fear of action by anybody who feels disturbed by what the Member has stated and provides them with the space to carry out their role of Representation and speaking on behalf of citizens. Members also have a number of protections, called privileges and immunities to ensure that they carry out their duties without constraints.
The Assembly also operates through Committees. These are appointed from among Members at the start of each Session of the Assembly, or at any other time agreed by the Members. Committees that continue for the whole duration of the Assembly are called Standing Committees and the Committees that are temporary are called Select Committees. Assembly Committees have the same power as the Supreme Court to summon and examine witnesses.
Sessions and Dissolution of the National Assembly
The period in which the National Assembly is in between elections is called a Session. Every term the Assembly meets during a session, it is called a Meeting and every day’s work is called a Sitting.
A session of the National Assembly begins with the President summoning its first meeting. A session of the National Assembly may be dissolved before the 5-year term for which it has been elected and this can be done at any time either by the President or by the Assembly itself.
The Judiciary
The Judiciary is the legal branch of government and is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the laws of Seychelles. It is headed by the Chief Justice.
Judicial power and authority is exercised by the courts – the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the Magistrates Court and the Constitutional Court, as well as other courts and tribunals that may be created by law.
The courts are independent of Parliament and the Executive.