Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Africa Subsaharan

Madagascar: At least 16 injured in opposition protests as tensions rise ahead presidential election

2023-11-10

[AFRICANEWS] **At least sixteen people were maimed Wednesday in new demonstratons that turned ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful at the Stade des Bareas Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital.****Among the injured were four coppers.**The latest incident comes as Madagascar reels from tensions ahead of the November 16 presidential election.

Wednesday’s umpteenth march by the opposition coalition 'Collectif des candidats' saw the opposition politician for Antananarivo's fifth constituency, Fetra Ralam/boza/fimbolo/lona, arrested for questioning by the police.

The protests by the coalition of opposition candidates taking part in the upcoming elections, are being held to denounce what they have called "an illegitimate electoral process".

Thirteen candidates are running for next week's election including the incumbent president Andry Rajoelina who is seeking a second term. But things seem to have gotten to a rocky start.

Last month the Constitutional Court dismissed appeals to have Preident Andry Rajoelina's candidacy declared void over his dual French nationality, sparking opposition anger.

Rajoelina, 49, resigned last month in line with the constitution in order to run for re-election.

The president of the Senate, Herimanana Razafimahefa, was supposed to take over but declined for "personal reasons", leaving the task to a "collegial government" headed by the prime minister, an ally of Rajoelina.

The move was accepted by the country's top court, which also dismissed appeals to have Rajoelina's candidacy declared void over his dual French nationality, sparking the anger of the opposition.

The 11 opposition candidates have since led almost daily, unauthorised marches in the capital, which have been met with a heavy police presence and tear gas.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Madagascar: Opposition candidates protest ''institutional coup''

2023-10-16

[AFRICANEWS] In Madagascar, proponents of a coalition consisting of 11 opposition contenders in the presidential election came together for a protest in Antananarivo, while supporters of incumbent president and candidate Andry Rajoelina assembled to show their support for him.

"We are here to support candidate Rajoelina, who is number 3. I support him because he has built a lot of infrastructure. And on top of that, they care about young people and the most disadvantaged."

The Malagasy opposition, which has been protesting for over two weeks against what they have dubbed an institutional coup d'état ahead of next month's presidential election, vowed to keep up the pressure in the streets. The High Constitutional Court had rejected three appeals calling for Rajoelina's candidacy to be invalidated for not having Malagasy nationality, whom according to June press reports had become a naturalized French citizen in 2014.

"We are calling for the elections to be organised in a sound, fair and transparent manner, accepted by everyone, with an independent national electoral commission (CENI), a new CENI, the government will change and a new special electoral court."

"Firstly, we do not accept the fact that our country is run by foreigners. And secondly, they must change the Independent National Electoral Commission and the High Constitutional Court. And finally, they should postpone the election."

The High Constitutional Court, on Thursday ordered the postponement of the first round, initially scheduled for November 9, to November 16 after a candidate suffered a facial injury. The second round is scheduled for December 20.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Madagascar security forces fire tear gas on opposition candidates

2023-10-03

[AFRICANEWS] Security forces in Madagascar fired tear gas on opposition candidates leading a protest in the capital Antananarivo on Monday, amid rising political tensions ahead of presidential elections next month.

Eleven of the 13 presidential candidates in the running had called on supporters to march on the central May 13 square to protest what they have described as an "institutional coup" to favour incumbent Andry Rajoelina.

But law enforcement officers moved to disperse the crowd of a few hundred people before it reached the planned destination.

Former president and leading opposition figure Marc Ravalomanana, who was among the protesters, was led away to safety by his security detail.

The rally was not given the green light by authorities and hundreds of security forces patrolled the city centre in the morning.

Voters in Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world despite vast natural resources, head to the polls to elect a president on November 9.

Rajoelina, 49, resigned last month in line with the constitution in order to run for re-election.

The president of the Senate was supposed to take over but declined for "personal reasons", leaving the task to a "collegial government" headed by Prime Minister Christian Ntsay, an ally of Rajoelina.

The move was accepted by the country's top court, sparking the anger of the opposition.

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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

Madagascar president's herbal tonic fails to halt Covid-19 spike

2020-08-14

[BBC] Hospitals in Madagascar have been struggling to cope with a surge of Covid-19 cases, while the president has been promoting an unproven product he says can cure the disease despite the World Health Organization (WHO) warning against using untested remedies.

Cases have quadrupled in the past month in the Indian Ocean island, with more than 13,000 infections and 162 deaths from coronavirus, which has spread to all but one of its 22 regions.

Despite the spike, President Andry Rajoelina stands by the herbal concoction called Covid-Organics, which was launched to great fanfare in April.

It is produced by the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research from the artemisia plant - the source of an ingredient used in a malaria treatment - and other Malagasy plants.

The drink has been marketed as a prevention and remedy - and for the last four months been offered to children at school.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Madagascar president announces constitutional referendum

2019-04-22

[PULSE.NG] Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina has called a May 27 referendum on changing the constitution, to do away with the country's Senate and give more powers to the regions.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Top Court validates Rajoelina's election as Madagascar president

2019-01-09

[AFRICANEWS] Madagascar’s High Constitutional Court on Wednesday validated the election of Andry Rajoelina as president in hotly contested run-off polls held on December 19, 2018.

The elections commission said Rajoelina had won 55.66 percent of the vote compared with 44.34 percent for Ravalomanana and turnout was just over 48 percent.

Ravalomanana’s camp disputed the results and filed papers seeking the court to invalidate the result. The court by law had nine days to decide whether to confirm the provisional results.

Today’s ruling indicates that Rajoelina’s election stands and he returns to the presidency after serving between 2009 and 2014. Ravalomanana, also served as president and was ousted in the 2009 coup that brought Rajoelina to power.

The EU observer mission said last week that the runoff election held on Dec. 19 had been calm and that observers had not witnessed fraud.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Former Madagascar leaders head to election run-off

2018-11-18

[Al Jazeera] Two former presidents of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana, have topped polls in the country's latest election, results have shown, and are set to compete in a run-off next month.

Neither won the 50 percent of votes required for a first-round victory, with Rajoelina on 39.19 percent and Ravalomanana on 35.29 percent, according to final results from the country's CENI election commission released on Saturday.

The run-off was scheduled for December 19.

Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who was running to hold onto power, secured only 8.84 percent of the vote, the commission said, before adding that the turnout at last week's election was 54.3 percent.

All three candidates, of a total 36, have alleged fraud and malpractice by election authorities, and the result will be subject to fierce legal appeals.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Madagascar ex-presidents in final bid to return to power

2018-11-05

[PULSE.NG] Two former Madagascar presidents drew tens of thousands of supporters to rival rallies in the capital Antananarivo on Saturday as they entered the final stretch of their election campaign.
Former President Marc Ravalomanana and rival Andry Rajoelina are frontrunners in the November 7 ballot in Madagascar, where protests earlier this year erupted over a government attempt to reform electoral rules.

The election pits Ravalomanana against the man who ousted him from power in 2009 in a military-backed revolt that left the Indian Ocean island state internationally isolated and later struggling with a legacy of bitter political division.

Ravalomanana filled the capital's Mahamasina suburb with his supporters dressed in white, his campaign colour. His rival Rajoelina, head of state from 2009 to 2014, packed out Antsonjombe stadium, a few kilometres away.

"Since you have not been able to achieve anything during your tenures, it is now up to me to realise it and to do more," Rajoelina told his supporters, referring to Ravalomanana and most recent president, Hery Rajaonarimampianina.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Madagascar Military Seizes Control of Eight Regions

2013-11-22

[An Nahar] Madagascar's military-backed government sacked a third of the country's regional administrators and replaced them with army brass ahead of a second round of presidential elections, prompting allegations of a partial coup Thursday.

Andry Rajoelina's government appointed five colonels and three generals to run the eight provinces, predominantly in the lawless south of the country where cattle rustling is common.

Rajoelina seized power from former president Marc Ravalomanana in 2009 in a military-backed coup.

The government said in a statement Wednesday that the move affecting about a third of the country's 22 regions was made because of "the candidacy of some regional leaders to legislative elections, recent insecurity and the national political context".

National newspapers accused Rajoelina of forming a military junta.

It is the second round of such sackings. In August the government dismissed seven regional leaders, replacing them with civilian appointees.

On December 20 voters are expected to choose a new president, with many hoping it will put an end to years of political turmoil.

Former defense minister and retired General Desire Ramakavelo told Agence La Belle France Presse the decision could foreshadow a state of emergency being declared.

"Such a decision is not ideal given the context, on the eve of the second round."

Amid international pressure, former Ravalomanana and Rajoelina are not candidates in this year's presidential elections, but their surrogates are in the run-off.

Jean Louis Robinson, Ravalomanana's candidate and Hery Rajaonarimampianina backed by Rajoelina, collected respectively 21 and 16 percent of the vote in the first round.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Madagascar's Rajoelina Backs Candidate for Run-Off

2013-11-10

[An Nahar] Madagascar strongman Andry Rajoelina has formally endorsed a candidate running against his rival's man in next month's presidential run-off, in an interview published on Saturday.

Speaking to Le Monde newspaper, Rajoelina for the first time officially gave his backing to Hery Rajaonarimampianina, whom he was widely thought to support.

Rajaonarimampianina came second in the first round on October 25 to the candidate favored by his nemesis whom he ousted from power four years ago, Marc Ravalomanana.

"For the second round, it is now clear: Hery Rajaonarimampianina is the candidate of the Rajoelina movement, the candidate of the revolution," he said.

Rajaonarimampianina won 15.93 percent of votes against 21.1 percent won by Robinson Jean Louis, the exiled Ravalomanana's candidate and the two will battle it out for the Madagascar presidency during a second round of voting on December 20.

Rajoelina waved off his candidate's lower showing, saying that he would get support of voters who had backed 10 of the 33 candidates who stood in the first round.

"Our side had 10 candidates. If you do the math, that's almost 55 percent (of the vote). The candidate whom I support will be Madagascar's new president."

Rajoelina, who has been interim leader in Madagascar after seizing power from Ravalomanana in 2009, did not rule out a future political role for himself.

"If the new president is able to calmly run the country with another prime minister, I will let them do so. But if authority is put in danger, for example by an overthrow attempt, I will always be there by the side of the Madagascan people."

Rajoelina told the newspaper that he had the 2018 presidential polls in mind, saying: "I want to come back strong, sooner or later, for the Madagascan people."

The elections in the Indian Ocean island aim to end a four-year political deadlock that ensued after Rajoelina seized power, plunging the country into a political and economic crisis.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Madagascar Strongman Says Will Not Stand in Election

2013-09-26

[An Nahar] Madagascar strongman Andry Rajoelina said Wednesday he would not stand in a presidential election next month aimed at ending years of political turmoil in the island nation.

"To unblock the political crisis, I have done everything to preserve the national unity and the higher interests of the Madagascar people. I have decided to not be a candidate in our coming presidential election," Rajoelina told the U.N. General Assembly.

The candidacy of Rajoelina and Lalao Ravalomanana, wife of the leader he ousted, had heightened tensions again in Madagascar.

There have been a number of bomb kabooms in the capital in recent weeks.

Amid international warnings over their move, an electoral court last month disqualified Rajoelina, Ravalomanana, and another former president, Didier Ratsiraka, from the election race after the three refused to withdraw.

All had breached the deadline for candidacies or other rules to stand. The African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
had said it would not recognize the results if one of the three was declared the winner.

Rajoelina's statement to world leaders at the U.N. appeared to lift any remaining doubts about his position however.

Campaigning for the October 25 poll started on Tuesday and there are still divisions over the replacements named for the disqualified politicians.

Rajoelina ousted Marc Ravalomanana as leader of the Indian Ocean island in a coup four years ago. Southern African states and the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
have been trying to reach a political accord leading to new elections ever since.

After the presidential poll, a parliamentary vote will follow on December 20.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Madagascar army 'retakes' camp after mutiny

2012-07-23

Madagascar's army says it is back in control of a military camp close to the airport in the capital Antananarivo after several soldiers earlier staged a mutiny.

The military said on Sunday that the group of mutinous soldiers who stormed the camp were eventually driven out in an assault by government forces. The leader of the rebellion was killed, the army said.

"The situation is under control. Corporal Koto Mainty, alias Black, has been killed," General Raphael Ramasy, chief of staff of the defence minister, told the public television station TVM. Mainty was the bodyguard of former defence minister Noel Rakotonandrasana. Rakotonandrasana was arrested after taking part in another mutiny back in 2010.

"The other mutineers gave themselves up or were arrested," Ramasy said. "Four other civilians were arrested ... Two mutineers and two other elements of the security forces are wounded."

An officer sent in to begin negotiations with the soldiers was shot and later died of his wounds, the army said. Two fighters of each side also suffered injuries, according to the defence ministry.

The island has been wracked by political turmoil over the last three years since the ousting of president Marc Ravalomanana, who has since lived in self-imposed exile in South Africa.

Then-opposition leader Andry Rajoelina led violent street protests against Ravalomanana and eventually seized power in March 2009 with the help of dissident army officers. The rival leaders are scheduled to meet for reconciliation talks next week in the Seychelles.

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