Madagascar opposition continues protests after delayed election
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Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko, one of the 11 opposition candidates in Madagascar, speaks to the press after a meeting with the magistrates of the HCC (Haute Cour Constitutionnelle) in Antananarivo on October 11, 2023. (Photo by RIJASOLO / AFP)
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() - The opposition in Madagascar vowed Friday to keep holding protests despite a top court order that presidential elections be postponed by one week amid high political tensions, after disputes over the regularity of the vote.
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For more than a week, opposition parties have held demonstrations against what they call an "institutional coup" to keep outgoing president Andry Rajoelina in power.
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Eleven out of 13 opposition candidates have led almost daily, unauthorised marches in the capital, Antananarivo, which have been met with a heavy police presence.
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Voters in the Indian Ocean island nation were initially due to head to the polls on November 9.
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But the country's top court on Thursday ordered that presidential elections be postponed by one week -- an order ratified on Friday by a government decree.
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"We must not give up, we must go all the way", Marc Ravalomanana, former president and candidate in the next elections, told AFP during a demonstration in the capital Antananarivo.
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The election -- in which the outgoing president Andry Rajoelina is also a candidate -- has been in preparation for several weeks in a climate that continues to deteriorate.
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It was the latest twist in a political crisis that has gripped the country since Rajoelina, 49, resigned last month in line with the constitution in order to run for re-election.
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The ruling follows the injury of candidate Andry Raobelina at one of the protest rallies that have routinely been dispersed by police.
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"This postponement means nothing," said opposition candidate, Roland Ratsiraka, saying it was not up to the constitutional court "to decide when the ballot should take place".
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"The Constitution is clear that the government decides on the basis of a proposal from the electoral commission," he said.
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"Tomorrow there will be ten times as many of us", he warned.
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Andry Rajoelina, 49, first took power in 2009 on the back of a coup that ousted Ravalomanana.
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After not running in the 2013 election due to international pressure, he was voted back into power in 2018.
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Last month, ten opposition candidates denounced an "institutional coup" orchestrated by the government.
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The Constitutional Court dismissed appeals to have Rajoelina's candidacy declared void over his dual French nationality, sparking opposition anger.
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Press reports earlier this year revealed that he had been naturalised as a French citizen in 2014.
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漏 Agence France-Presse
