Francesca Monnaie is the new leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.
She took the oath of allegiance before National Assembly Speaker Patrick Herminie during yesterday’s sitting.
Ms Monnaie replaces David Pierre who submitted his resignation from parliament and as leader of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) political party on Monday.
Mr Pierre formed the PDM in 2011 and Ms Monnaie had been the party’s secretary general before taking over as interim leader following the former’s resignation.
Article 84 (1) of the Seychelles Constitution stipulates that a leader of the opposition shall be elected by the National Assembly from among its members.
This is the first time since the establishment of the third republic, when the country adopted its current constitution in 1993 that a leader of the opposition in the assembly resigns from office. And Ms Monnaie becomes the first woman to hold the office.
Asked how she felt to take up these positions, Ms Monnaie replied: “I feel honoured and proud.”
The 29-year-old added: “Mr Pierre has made a decision and PDM has made a decision. We need to ensure that the post is occupied and I have been chosen, so I will assume the role until the end. PDM’s agenda is to work in a democratic manner. At the moment we are still discussing as an executive committee on how to move forward in the next election.”
The leader of government business Marie-Antoinette Rose welcomed Ms Monnaie to the National Assembly and said her joining increases the percentage of women in the assembly.
The only opposition party to contest the September 2011 parliamentary polls against the Parti Lepep after other parties boycotted the elections, PDM failed to get any member directly elected in the elections and obtained one seat in the assembly in December 2011 after winning a court challenge on the allocation of proportional seats.
The seat was allocated to PDM based on the party’s 3,828 vote which amounted to 10.89% of valid votes cast in the election.
As for Mr Pierre, he told a press conference on Monday afternoon that he decided to resign to give someone else the opportunity to bring the party forward.
Mr Pierre added that he took the decision following the results of the last Presidential elections during which he won 400 valid votes or 0.66% of the ballot against five other candidates and noted that he felt disappointed as he has worked in the interest of the people and Seychelles.
Mr Pierre, who was the deputy secretary-general and proportionately elected member of the National Assembly for the Seychelles National Party (SNP) before forming the PDM, has said he will now explore all options that life has to offer and based on the options he will make the best decision.
