These experiences led him to adopt a moderate socialist ideology that favoured some state intervention in the economy and strong ties with conservative forces such as the Roman Catholic Church – René's initial career goal was to join the priesthood.

The late London-trained lawyer James Mancham's Seychelles Democratic Party (SDP), created the same year, by contrast represented conservatives, businessmen and planters and wanted closer integration with Britain.

The newly knighted Sir James Mancham became the country's first President, with René as Prime Minister, following assembly elections in which the Seychelles People's United Party (SPUP) came in second place.

While James Mancham was away overseas to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in London and celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, on 4–5 June 1977, less than a year after independence, between 60 and 200 partisan Tanzanian-trained supporters of René installed him as President of the Republic in an almost bloodless coup d'état.

René's claim that he was not party to the coup was challenged during hearing of the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission[3] in 2019 and 2020 when known a participant acknowledged that he had been involved in the planning and execution.

The officers and their families, as well as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Aiden O'Brien Quinn, a judge from Ireland similarly on loan by his Government, were flown to Europe; the island was put under curfew.

When approached by the insurgents, René was said to have accepted the Presidency on three conditions: that the safety of political individuals be guaranteed, that international agreements remain in force, and that elections be planned for 1978 (they were eventually held in 1979).

Multiparty democracy commenced around 1994, but René continued to win in 1993, and in 1998 and 2001, when he defeated the opposition leader Wavel Ramkalawan, the candidate of the Seychelles National Party.

Compared to the rest of Africa, the Seychelles scored well in terms of child mortality, literacy rate, median income and standard of living.

The situation for Seychellois Creole people, who constitute the majority of the nation's population, also improved significantly due to domestic policies implemented by President René aimed at racial equity.

China began providing Seychelles with diplomatic aid in 1977, including things such as constructing a poly-technical school and developing housing project in Les Mamelles.

In 1987 The Sunday Times, quoting unnamed US intelligence officers, reported that the Soviet Union had landed 50 naval infantry troops in the Seychelles after making landfall on the Ivan Rogov in October 1986; a month after a foiled assassination attempt on René.

The year 1963 marked the beginning of an official U.S. presence in Seychelles when the U.S. Air Force Tracking Station was built and put into operation on Mahé.

Notorious British Colonel "Mad Mike" Hoare and a team of 43 mercenaries posed as members of the "Ancient Order of Froth Blowers", a defunct charitable beer-drinking fraternity, visiting the islands as tourists.

Shortly after leaving their Royal Swazi National Airways aircraft, an airport security guard spotted a Kalashnikov assault rifle in their luggage; the discovery launched a gun battle in which hostages were taken.

[citation needed] The author John Perkins has alleged that this was part of a covert action to re-install the pro-American former president in the face of concerns about United States access to its military bases in Diego Garcia.

However, it is suspected by Perkins that the United States played a significant direct role in the incident,[9] given that there was co-operation at the time between the CIA and the South African government on other issues.

The government was threatened again by an army mutiny in August 1982, but it was quelled after 2 days when loyal troops, reinforced by Tanzanian forces & several of the mercenaries that had escaped from the prison, recaptured the rebel-held installations.

In 1986, an attempted coup led by the Seychelles Minister of Defence, Ogilvy Berlouis, caused President René to request assistance from India.

In June 1986, the Indian Navy deployed the Vindhyagiri at the Seychelles Port of Victoria to abort an attempted coup against President Rene by Defence Minister Berlouis in what was called Operation Flowers are Blooming.

India helped avert a further attempted coup by Berlouis in September 1986, when Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi lent President René his plane so that he could fly back from an international meeting in Harare to the Seychelles.

[citation needed] In February 1992, Conrad Greslé, a local accountant, landowner and advocate of multi-party democracy in Seychelles was arrested and charged with treason for allegedly planning to overthrow President René's régime with the apparent aid of foreign mercenaries and with supposed CIA involvement.

[citation needed] Faced with mounting pressure from the country's primary sources of foreign aid, René's administration began moving toward more democratic rule in the early 1990s.

Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and dissolution of the Soviet Union, at an Extraordinary Congress of the Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF) on 4 December 1991, under the pressure of the opposition and France and Great Britain, President René announced a return to the multiparty system of government after almost 16 years of one-party rule.

[citation needed] Three candidates contested the 20–22 March 1998 presidential election: France-Albert René of the SPPF, James Mancham of the DP, and Wavel Ramkalawan.

However family members report that his successor, upon securing his position, "abandoned" René, rarely conversing or seeking advice from him except just before elections in a bid to get him to vocalise support.

[citation needed] Dolor Ernesta, who served as a minister in René's government, said: “The President will be remembered as a true leader who led the fight for independence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed condolences over the passing of René, stating that he had made important contributions to advancing the cause of China-Seychelles friendship.

However, the setting up of the Truth Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC[14]) in 2018, and their hearings (televised day after day in real time, and recorded on YouTube) revealed the testimonies of people who had been tortured, and from relatives of people who had been murdered, tortured, disappeared, assassinated, detained without trial, as well as evidence of financial crimes and looting of the state and private individuals, led to a reassessment of his record; critics of René believe that he and his party are responsible for torture and other human rights abuses involving opponents of the government, allegedly including the death of a prominent dissident in London, Gérard Hoarau.

[citation needed] After the 1977 coup, a significant portion of the population, including the deposed President Sir James Mancham, fled to the UK and South Africa due to political persecution and fear of the new government's expropriation and reprisals, and alignment with the Soviet Union, Tanzania and North Korea.