MADAGASCAR: Former Health Minister Jean-Louis Robinson and ex-Finance Minister Hery Rajaonarimampianina who led in the first round of Madagascar's October polls hold their final campaigns ahead of Friday's run-off

Record ID: 346866

  • Title: MADAGASCAR: Former Health Minister Jean-Louis Robinson and ex-Finance Minister Hery Rajaonarimampianina who led in the first round of Madagascar's October polls hold their final campaigns ahead of Friday's run-off
  • Date: 18th December 2013
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Malagasy) ANTANANARIVO RESIDENT, BILLY OLAS, SAYING: "There is a very big possibility that those who were responsible for the coup will be elected into office. I think this is very bad and things will turn very ugly because we already know who is going to be elected." GENERAL VIEW OF STADIUM, SUPPORTERS OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HERY RAJAONARIMAMPIANINA SINGI
  • Embargoed: 2nd January 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Madagascar
  • Country: Madagascar
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA42N755U7CO5P15EN1T0FWMIOH
  • Story Text: Former Health Minister Jean-Louis Robinson and ex-Finance Minister Hery Rajaonarimampianina who led in the first round of Madagascar's October elections staged their final campaigns on Wednesday (December 18) ahead of Friday's (December 20) run-off.
    Madagascar, which is recovering from political uncertainty is hoping Friday's poll will end the crisis that began five years ago that has deterred investors and donors to one of Africa's poorest nations.
    However residents say old rifts may persist, extending the crisis.

    "There is a very big possibility that those who were responsible for the coup will be elected into office. I think this is very bad and things will turn very ugly because we already know who is going to be elected," said Billy Olas, a local resident.
    Neither candidate scored a commanding victory in October's first round. Both rely on supporters of their respective sponsors, outgoing President Andry Rajoelina and the man he deposed with the army's help in 2009, Marc Ravalomanana.

    "I really hope that Robinson will be elected, this is the only way in which our lives will change," said Zakaria Rafondranarivo, another local.
    Voters may not deliver a clear mandate to either Jean Louis Robinson, an ally of Ravalomanana, or Hery Rajaonarimampianina, a former finance minister backed by Rajoelina.
    Parliamentary polls also taking place on Friday could lead to one camp holding the presidency and the other controlling the legislature, perhaps forcing them into a power-sharing deal.
    Such a compromise might please donors and many Malagasys, exhausted by five years of political stalemate, but some fear rival leaders will instead prolong a paralysing confrontation in which the economy has shrunk 4 percent since the coup in 2009.
    Toavina Ralambomahay, a political analyst in Antananarivo predicts gloom due to the vested interests Ravalomanana and Rajoelina have on this election.

    "At the moment nothing is visible, the candidates we have are substitutes and are either supported by Marc Ravalomanana or Andry Rajoelina. We actually do not even know the popularity they enjoy because we will be having legislative elections at the same time. None of them has the majority. Robinson is sure he will not have the majority because he does not have his own candidates - they belong to Ravalomanana and if Hery Rajaonarimampianina won then we know very well the power will rest to Rajeolina. Therefore this is just a continuation of the crisis and I think there is still a long way to go before Madagascar rises again," said Ralambomahay.
    Smooth elections could help restore the confidence of mining and other investors, revive the battered tourist industry and re-open the aid taps to a country of 22 million people, of whom nine out of 10 live on less than $2 a day.
    But much hangs on how the loser reacts and whether the army, which had backed Rajoelina, stays in its barracks this time.
    In the first round Robinson secured 21 percent of the vote, while Rajaonarimampianina won 16 percent, both far short of the 50 percent plus needed for outright victory.
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