Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina. (RijasoloI/AFP)
- About 12 million voters registered for Madagascar’s legislative elections – on 29 May
- The ruling party, Tanora Malagasy Vonona, will seek to extended its grip on power.
- AU and SADC election observation missions are already on the ground.
A lot of global attention will be directed at the South African general elections on Wednesday, but another country in the region will be going to the polls on the same day, as the Malagasy people vote in legislative elections.
In November, Andry Rajoelina secured a third presidential term in an election marred by a low turnout and an opposition boycott.
This time around, according to Madagascar’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), there is an increase of 5.32% registered voters. That’s an addition of 587 320 voters from November’s 11.6 million.
The electoral body, in a statement, said 12 million ballot papers were printed for the plebiscite.
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The ruling party, Tanora Malagasy Vonona (which translates to Young Malagasies Determined) go into this election with a majority in parliament, where it won 84 out of 151 seats in the last election.
Groupe Parlementaire uni pour la République (United Parliamentary Group) was the second most popular with 18 seats, followed by Tiako I Madagasikara (I Love Madagascar) with 11 seats.
Numerous smaller parties had a seat each.
International observers
An African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) is already in the country, led by Karine Kakasi Siaba, head of the Democracy and Elections Unit (DEU) at the AU.
The team is comprised of nine short-term observers, mostly from Southern Africa. In a statement, Siaba said the mission “shall observe the last days of the election campaign, the voting on election day and the post-election phase”.
She said:
It shall conduct its activities with all independence, impartiality and objectivity in line with the relevant instruments relating to democratic elections.
The SADC Election Observation Mission to Madagascar is led by Justice Florence Mumba, a former Supreme Court judge and ex-chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Zambia.
In an interview with journalists in Antananarivo, she said the SADC EOM was pleased with preparations.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
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Publish date : 2024-05-25 05:57:22