Madagascar: 1998 Constitutional referendum

Updated June 2010

The referendum was held on 25 March 1998.

Voting statistics

Registered voters	4 557 362
Total votes cast	3 202 770
% Turnout	70.27
Valid votes	2 991 978
Invalid votes	210 792
% invalid	6.58

Table source

NUNLEY, AC 2006 "Elections in Madagascar" IN African Elections Database, [www] http://africanelections.tripod.com/mg.html [opens new window] (accessed 14 June 2010).

Extracted from: Lucien Toulou 2009 "Chapter 6: Madagascar" IN Denis Kadima and Susan Booysen (eds) Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa 1989-2009: 20 Years of Multiparty Democracy, EISA, Johannesburg, 213.

A constitutional referendum followed the Ratsiraka return to power. This time around, the constitutional amendments - voted for in the 'yes' vote - allowed the president to dissolve parliament and appoint the prime minister (see Table 8). The country was also divided into six provinces as a result of this referendum, which recorded a 70.3 per cent turnout.

Table 8: The 25 March 1998 referendum

Option	Votes	%
YES	1 524 581	50.96
NO	1 467 397	49.04
Total	2 991 978	100.00

Table source

Journal officiel de Madagascar, 08 Avril 1998, No 2495, pp 1222-1259.