Madagascar’s president has announced his intentions to seek a re-election bid on Thursday amidst weeks of demonstration by opposition groups who remark that he is ineligible to run and the vote should be postponed.
Andry Rajoelina, a 49-year-old entrepreneur and former DJ had risen to power in a 2009 coup that frightened off investors in the Indian Ocean island. He retired after almost five years as leader of a transitional authority and then became president after winning a 2018 election.
Officials have revealed that they were moving ahead with plans for Thursday’s first-round ballot, a few days after the leader of the lower house of parliament – a member of the president’s own party – called for the vote delay as the conditions were not suitable.
Over the past six weeks, police have used tear gas to break up regular demonstrations by supporters of Rajoelina’s political opponents who are of the mind that he should be disqualified because he just got his French nationality in 2014.
The race has rekindled long-standing rivalries between three of the island’s wealthiest men: Rajoelina and two other ex-presidents, Marc Ravalomanana and Hery Rajaonarimampianina. Ten other candidates are also running making the number of candidates 13.
Rival candidates have also asked for new people to be put in charge of the electoral commission and requested for the creation of a special court to hear ballot disputes.
But Rajoelina had remarked that the constitution does not mandate the head of state to solely hold Malagasy nationality.
At a campaign rally on Sunday in the capital Antananarivo, Rajoelina urged supporters to vote and dismissed the opposition calls for delays as a political strategy.
At present, more than 11 million people out of a population of approximately 30 million are registered to vote in the upcoming election.
