đź“· Photo: Patrick Joubert / Seychelles News Agency via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
The Constitutional Court of Seychelles has declared the 10th Amendment to the Constitution unconstitutional, ruling that the required constitutional procedures were not properly followed when parliament and the executive enacted the change in 2022.
The judgment, delivered on Tuesday 28 July 2026, ends the legal challenge first lodged in September 2022 by the Seychelles Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman, and the Bar Association of Seychelles. The three petitioners argued that the amendment undermined democratic protections guaranteed by the Constitution, particularly due process, the rule of law, and human rights, because it empowered the Seychelles Defence Forces to carry out internal law enforcement outside a state of emergency.
Writing for the Court, the panel found that the legislative path used to amend Article 3 of the Constitution did not satisfy the procedure the Constitution itself demands for changes of this scope. The Court did not need to rule on the substance of the policing powers to reach its decision, focusing instead on the process question the petitioners raised from the outset.
The 10th Amendment was approved by the National Assembly on 11 May 2022 and assented to by the then President, Wavel Ramkalawan, on 14 June 2022. It added a fifth function to the military, allowing it to work alongside the Seychelles Police on matters of public security, environmental protection, and maritime security, even when no public emergency had been declared. Critics, including the petitioners and several former justices, warned at the time that the change erased the buffer between ordinary law enforcement and the Office of the President, who is also Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces.
The road to Tuesday’s ruling ran through the Court of Appeal, which ruled in May 2024 that the original panel of Constitutional Court judges should recuse themselves from hearing the substantive petition. The Court of Appeal allowed the petitioners’ application for recusal and ordered a fresh bench to hear the case, citing concerns about the appearance of judicial independence given a State House statement at the time of assent that thanked the judiciary for its involvement in preparing the amendment. The same ConstitutionNet report sets out the original grounds of the petition and the legal questions the case raised for any future constitutional reform in Seychelles.
The decision resets the legal baseline for any future attempt to expand the role of the Defence Forces in domestic law enforcement. A new amendment, if the government of President Dr Patrick Herminie chooses to pursue one, would need to follow the constitutional procedure the Court has now confirmed is binding. The ruling does not affect the operational conduct of the Defence Forces, which continues to function under its existing mandate until any further legislative action is taken.
The three petitioners issued a joint statement on Tuesday welcoming the ruling and calling on the government to reflect carefully on the constitutional limits of any future security legislation. The Constitutional Court has not yet published the full reasons for its decision, with the detailed judgment expected in the coming days.
Sources cited: ConstitutionNet, Seychelles court of appeal grants application to recuse constitutional court judges hearing 10th amendment case, 3 May 2024 (https://constitutionnet.org/news/seychelles-court-appeal-grants-application-recuse-constitutional-court-judges-hearing-10th); ConstitutionNet, Seychelles constitutional court to review amendment allowing military personnel to assist police outside of states of emergency, 26 September 2022 (https://constitutionnet.org/news/seychelles-constitutional-court-review-amendment-allowing-military-personnel-assist-police).
