Madagascar: Main electoral trends (1956-2009)

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, 191-193.

General suffrage was introduced in 1956 in Madagascar in 1956. The first political party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) headed by Philibert Tsiranana, was formed in 1957. On 28 September 1958 Madagascar held its first national referendum - to determine whether the country should become a self-governing republic within the French community. While nationalists opposed the concept of limited self-rule, the PSD advocated for a gradual approach to independence. The latter won the vote, leading to the election of Tsiranana as the Malagasy first president. In the meantime, the PSD secured 75 seats out 107 in the September 1960 Assembly elections.

Amid protests over the signing of agreements and conventions designed to maintain and strengthen ties with France, Tsiranana was re-elected unopposed in January 1972 with 99.9 per cent of the votes. A national referendum was held in October 1972 endorsing a plan proposed by then prime minister Gabriel Ramanantsoa to rule without parliament for five years. The plan obtained 96 per cent of the votes and Tsiranana, who opposed the plan, was forced to resign the presidency shortly after the referendum. After a wave of political instability, a new referendum was held on 21 December 1975. It approved Didier Ratsiraka as president under a new constitution that set up the Democratic Republic of Madagascar. This referendum was endorsed by 94.7 per cent of the voters.

The Avant-garde pour la Renovation Malgache (Arema), the political flag- bearer of the Front National pour la Défense de la Révolution (FNDR), was the only political organisation permitted by the new constitution. Without any other opposition other than from dissidents to the de facto single-party framework that prevailed throughout the Second Republic, Ratsiraka was re-elected in November 1982 with 80 per cent of the vote. The National Assembly elections held in August 1983 consolidated his power after Arema secured 117 of the 137 seats amid allegations of fraud. In January 1989, the constitution was amended and a snap election held in November 1989. Ratsiraka was then elected to a third term in office after winning the March 1989 snap presidential election with 62 per cent of the vote. The Arema REMA subsequently increased its parliamentary majority after the legislative elections by winning 120 of the 137 seats.

Despite the widespread enthusiasm for the socialist revolution after years of uncertainty and military instability, the support for the regime was waning. The popular vote in favour of the socialist regime declined from nearly 95 per cent in 1975 to 63 per cent in 1989. This situation reflects accounts for the increasing dissatisfaction with the authoritarian nature of the regime and, its socio-economic record, and the growing demands for liberalisation following the demise of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the global crisis of authoritarianism resulting from it. As was to be expected, the ruling party lost the 19 August 1992 constitutional referendum and Didier Ratsiraka left office after losing the first Malagasy multi-party elections to Albert Zafy with 33.26 per cent, as against 66.74 per cent for his rival. On 17 September 1995, Zafy called a constitutional referendum on an amendment to allow the president of the rRepublic, rather than the National Assembly, to choose a pPrime mMinister. The amendment was adopted with 63.5 per cent of the valid votes amidst a high degree of abstention. After the impeachment of the president by the National Assembly, Ratsiraka came back to defeat Zafy with 51 per cent of the vote following a run-off on 29 December 1996, promising a programme of humanistic and ecological development and announcing plans for a referendum to revise the constitution.

A constitutional revision adopted on 15 March 1998 by 51 per cent of the vote reverted to a presidential regime that increased the president's power at the expense of other institutions such as the legislature and the judiciary, and provided for decentralisation.

The hotly contested December 2001 presidential election came a few years later. Opposition leader Marc Ravalomanana claimed victory over Ratsiraka, but the government announced that the former had won only 46 per cent of the vote, forcing a run-off. Ravalomanana denounced the reported results and declared himself the new president. This situation degenerated between his and Ratsiraka''s supporters. Although Ravalomanana gained control of the capital, Ratsiraka moved his government to Toamasina, as he enjoyed strong support outside the capital and in much of the army. A recount of the election in April 2002 declared Ravalomanana the winner, but Ratsiraka rejected the results. Forces supporting Ravalomanana gradually won control of most of the island by early July when Ratsiraka fled Madagascar for to France. Legislative elections were called for in December 2002 and Tiako I Madagasikara (TIM), Ravalomanana''s party, won the majority of seats in the new pParliament. President Ravalomanana was re-elected in December 2006. He called for a national referendum over the constitution in April 2007 and for snap elections in September 2007, strengthening the tendency to give more authority to the president and allowing the ruling party to control the National Assembly unchallenged.

He was not able to couldn't finish his term in office as he was forced to stand down and hand over power to the military in March 2009 after tens of thousands of people went to the street, sparking resulting in violent confrontations with government forces. The military immediately transferred power to Andry Rajoelina, former mayor of Antananarivo and leader of the protests that resulted in Ravalomanana''s resignation. The former was sworn in as transitional head of state until the holding of the next presidential election in the country.