Victoria, Oct 26 (UNI) An Indian-origin priest from Bihar -- Wavel Ramkalawan has been elected President of Seychelles.

Mr Ramkalawan, whose grandfather came from Gopalganj, Bihar, defeated the incumbent Danny Faure, who had visited India in 2018.

The Indian Ocean archipelago is a former British colony which became independent in 1976 and Mr Faure's United Party seized power in a coup a year later, retaining the presidency in elections after multi-party democracy was restored in 1993.

This is the first time since 1977 that the opposition has taken power here, which has a substantial population from the sub-continent.

According to the official results, Anglican priest Wavel Ramkalawan defeated President Danny Faure by 54.9 per cent to 43.5 pc, official results show.

In his victory speech, Mr Ramkalawan was conciliatory towards Mr Faure, saying there were no losers or winners.

In his first comments since winning, Mr Ramkalawan said, "Mr Faure and I are good friends. And an election does not mean the end of one's contribution to one's motherland.

"In this election, there were no losers, there were no winners - our country was given the opportunity as the ultimate winner."

Mr Faure was sitting close by and nodded in approval as the incoming president spoke, media reports said.

UNI XC-RHK SRJ 1316