In 1977, when president James Mancham was overthrown by France-Albert René, the old flag was abolished and the red, white and green flag based on the flag of the Seychelles People's United Party came into use, which had a distinct wavy white stripe. The only significant difference between the national flag and SPUP's flag was the depiction of the sun in the party's flag which was not used in the country's flag. The flag looked like a combination of the flag of the Latvian SSR and the Lithuanian SSR. When the party lost the majority in the elections, other parties demanded a change in the flag which led to a parliamentary approval of a new proposed design.
