Violence Breaks Out After President Reelected

Scores of people backing rival political candidates clashed in the streets after President France Albert Rene was reelected in the Seychelles’ closest election since independence in 1976, police said.

Supporters of Rene’s ruling Seychelles People’s Progressive Front and the opposition Seychelles National Party threw bottles at one another in at least two districts of Mahe, the main island of the Indian Ocean archipelago, police said.

In Bel Ombre, four miles northwest of the capital, Victoria, police used tear gas to disperse scores of opposition supporters--who were celebrating the closeness of the contest--and their rivals. Thirteen people were reported injured.

Rene, 65, who has led the Seychelles since seizing power in a 1977 coup, won 54% of the vote, while his closest challenger, Wavel Ramkalawan, received 45%.