TNAG-0595-FCO40-742-Principles-and-procedures-of-granting-independence-1977 — Page 32

RESTRICTED

SDP and the SPUP we made it clear that a decision whether or not

to hold fresh elections was a political one, and one that could only be taken when the Commission's findings had been studied by all

concerned. We ourselves were, of course, opposed to the idea partly because new elections threatened to raise the political temperature once again, this time within a short period before the target date for independence. The main reason, however, was that new elections would almost certainly cause the break-up of the Coalition, the successful working of which had been the principal gain over the period following the First Constitutional Conference. The SPUP, as expected, championed the cause of new elections before and during the visit of the Electoral Review Commission and there was some doubt whether the issue might not, after all, be the

rock on which the Second Constitutional Conference now arranged for January 1976 - would founder. It was consequently agreed that Mr Larmour (now DUS), Mr O'Keeffe (now Head of HKIOD) and Mr Grennan (Political Adviser on African Affairs) should pay a pre-Conference visit to Seychelles to see whether this, and other outstanding issues, could be resolved. The visit took place in December 1975; but immediately beforehand there was an unexpected development which initially looked unpromising but which, in the event, proved the key to the resolution of most of the remaining problems.

The Decision to become a Republic (November 1975/December 1976)

15. This was the decision of the Seychelles to proceed to independence as a Republic within the Commonwealth. The idea was apparently Rene's (or perhaps Sinon's) and was put to Mancham by René on the course of a journey by aeroplane from Nairobi to Mahé in November. The proposition was that the coalition should continue up to and after independence but that on independence Mancham should become President and René Prime Minister: there should meanwhile

be no elections which would by agreement be postponed until the next due date in 1979. There was precedent, in the case of Zambia (and perhaps Botswana), for a dependent territory achieving independence as a Republic within the Commonwealth and little difficulty was envisaged with other Commonwealth members when Seychelles applied for membership.

/ 16.

RESTRICTED

- 9.