"I won't sleep tomorrow night until the outcome is announced. I am so excited about the election, " a cheerful Air Seychelles ticket-issuing clerk said at her office on the country's second largest island Praslin.

"I will listen to the radio and the election result will be broadcast live," the young clerk said.

Voting on the outlying islands has ended Saturday while the key and final voting is due on Sunday simultaneously on the three major islands which are homes to 98 percent of the country's 82, 000 population.

The final outcome is expected to be announced late night on the same day. The Seychellois will decide with ballots who will be their leader, the incumbent President James Michel or opposition leader Wavel Ramkalawan.

This year's election is widely seen as a neck-and-neck race between the two hopefuls.

The ruling Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF) has been in power for the last 29 years and has gained wide support and applaud for its heavy input in social system such as free health and education and housing projects.

Michel succeeded his predecessor in 2004 after former president France Albert Rene resigned and handed over the power to his vice.

The government is however blamed for the sluggish economy partly as a result of tight control on foreign exchange in the past decade which gave opposition Seychelles National Party (SNP) a chance with its manifesto of economic reform and openness.

In the 2001 presidential election, Ramkalawan lost only narrowly to evergreen Rene, a sign of increasing support to the opposition.

A waitress in a small coastal restaurant on the Praslin island said she would go to one of the two polling stations on the island on Sunday morning to cast her ballot.

Confessing the restaurant has fairly good business, the middle- aged said however she wanted some changes.

"I will definitely vote for Ramkalawan. I want to see some changes, changes for better," she said.

"Some of my colleagues will support the ruling party, but it's ok. We have different opinions, but still we are friends, aren' t we?" she asked with a big smile.

Source: Xinhua