TNAG-0595-FCO40-742-Principles-and-procedures-of-granting-independence-1977 — Page 30

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abroad than might have been considered wise during so delicate a phase in his country's political evolution; but the more sober and serious Chetty, Minister of Finance, obviously kept him well informed of developments and Mancham was invariably on hand to manage matters when required. René had obviously decided that time was on his side and made no attempt to embarrass his Coalition partner;'

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EXEMPTION No .........

Electoral Review: October/December 1976

12. The next stage, quite clearly, was to arrange for an authoritative examination of the electoral system which had been so acute a

cause of dissension in the past. There was plenty of precedent for the convening of an Electoral Review Commission but not, perhaps, one which entirely fitted the particular circumstances of

Seychelles.

Much thought was given to the choice of members.

It

was obviously desirable that neither Seychelles party should be given the right to nominate persons of their own choice, which carried the risk of continuing political dissension with what was meant to be a dispassionate consideration of the issues. Equally, the members needed to be generally acceptable to the Seychelles poli- tical leaders as both independent and authoritative. The choice eventually fell on Tun Tan Siew Sin, the former Finance Minister of Malaysia with great practical experience of politics in a newly emergent state; Mr Harvey Lloyd da Costa of Jamaica, an experienced constitutional lawyer and former Attorney-General of the West Indies Federation; and Sir Leslie Monson who, as a former Deputy Secretary in the Colonial Office, had great experience of the constitutional development of dependent territories.

Thus, all three had impeccable credentials, with the balance in favour of the newer, non-white, Commonwealth. We considered, but rejected, the idea of an African memb er because we were less sure that any-

one selected would be immune from outside pressures eg from the

OAU.

As it happened, there was no apparent desire from Seychelles for such a figure.

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