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only merit would have been the opportunity it would have given HMG to give up its colonial responsibilities.
(c) Since, however, it was HMG's policy to give these responsibilities up in Seychelles, we had a responsibility for ensuring not only a peaceful transfer of power but as secure
a political settlement as could be achieved. We had thus an interest in securing a settlement between the two parties on the only matter of substance which divided them: who was to hold
power at the moment of independence. The main merit of the coalition proposal which was actively sponsored was that it permitted a degree of power-sharing, on independence, always provided the Seychelles leaders could make a Coalition work in the interim. Happily they were so able; and the solution certainly had greater merit than having to make a choice between permitting, or refusing to permit, fresh elections to decide the issue before independence on a winner-take-all basis.
(d) Fresh elections were not in HMG's interest. If the
SPUP under René had won, this would have effectively eliminated Mancham but would have left the ruling party with unspecified, but substantial, debts to the OAU and perhaps also the Soviet Union. This would have made the prospects of persuading the Americans to agree to returning the ex-Seychelles BIOT islands very slim, thus leaving us with another unresolved colonial problem in an area where we no longer exercise any effective power. A victory by Rene would have put the US satellite tracking station at risk and given the Americans first cause for complaint over our mishandling of the situation. On the other hand, a victory by Mancham would not necessarily have been decisive. The risk of an OAU or Soviet- financed revolution by the SPUP was not negligible, thus exacerbating our relations with African states, particularly if the Americans had decided to support Mancham.
(e) Nor would fresh elections necessarily have been in Seychelles' own interests. Victory by either side in a small country with the vote so evenly divided would have had damaging consequences for national unity. Even assuming the two-party
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18.