Malagasy parliamentary election, 2007
Encyclopedia
A parliamentary election was held in Madagascar
on 23 September 2007, with the vote to be repeated in two constituencies on 14 November 2007. 637 candidates contested the election, in which the 127 seats in the National Assembly
were at stake.
In Toliara Province
on 20 July 2007, President Marc Ravalomanana
announced he would soon dissolve the National Assembly, leading to an early parliamentary election. Speaking to the press on July 24, Ravalomanana cited the need to adapt to the situation under the constitutional changes
passed earlier this year as grounds for dissolving parliament before the end of its term in May 2008. The decision was finally announced on 26 July 2007 after a Council of Ministers meeting; the ministers had agreed to reduce the number of parliamentarians from 160 to 127 to be elected in the 119 districts of Madagascar
across the country.
All candidacies had to be submitted by August 14. The High Constitutional Court released its official list of 1,542 validated candidates on August 23.Iloniaina Alain, "Madagascar: Hémorragie au sein du Tim - Des membres du Tim qui se représentent sous diverses étiquettes aux législatives.", L'Express de Madagascar (allAfrica.com), August 24, 2007 . The ruling Tiako I Madagasikara
(TIM) was the only party with candidates in all constituencies; these candidates included only about a fifth of the TIM deputies in the previous National Assembly. About 20 of the deputies not nominated by TIM as candidates ran as independents instead; TIM President Razoarimihaja Solofonantenaina described them as "not serious challengers". Seven ministers in the government were nominated as TIM candidates: Yvan Randriasandratriniony
, Minister near the Presidency in charge of Decentralization, in Fianarantsoa
I; Koto Bernard, Minister of the Environment, in Ifanadiana
; Robinson Jean Louis, Minister of Health, in Alaotra-Mangoro
; Patrick Ramiaramanana
, Minister of Energy, in Antananarivo
I; Andriamparany Radavidson, Minister of Finance, in Antananarivo IV; Donat Olivier Andriamahefamparany, Minister of Mines, in Antananarivo V; and Harifidy Ramilison, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, in Fort-Dauphin
. Many criticized the candidacies of these ministers because they were expected to remain in the government after the election, leaving their National Assembly seats to their substitutes. Another notable TIM candidate was former Prime Minister Jacques Sylla
on Île Sainte-Marie
.
An alliance of opposition parties agreed to nominate a single candidate for each constituency, but although they reached a consensus on single candidates in some constituencies, in most cases they did not. One notable opposition candidate is Jean Lahiniriko
, who was elected as a TIM candidate in the December 2002 parliamentary election
and became President of the National Assembly before having a falling out with the ruling party and running against Ravalomanana in the December 2006 presidential election
. He stood as a candidate in the parliamentary election for his new party, the Socialist and Democratic Party for the Unity of Madagascar (PSDUM), in the Betioky South constituency.
The former ruling party AREMA
was divided on whether to contest the election. The faction of the party associated with former president Didier Ratsiraka
chose not to participate, unlike the faction associated with Pierrot Rajaonarivelo
. The Ratsiraka faction sought to prevent the Rajaonarivelo faction's participation, but on August 23 the High Constitutional Court ruled that it could participate.
The election campaign began on September 8 and continued for two weeks.
There were about 7.5 million registered voters in this election and 17,586 polling stations across the country.
Provisional results on September 24 showed TIM winning all six of the constituencies in Antananarivo, the capital, where each constituency is represented by two deputies. In the city of Toamasina
, considered an opposition stronghold, TIM candidate Pierrot Botozaza was victorious. TIM also won in the cities of Fianarantsoa and Antsiranana
, but in one of the main cities it suffered a defeat, with its candidate losing to an independent candidate, Harinjatovo Rakotondramanana ("Hary Kalizy"), in the Mahajanga
I constituency.
Voter turnout was low, particularly in urban areas; in some of the Antananarivo constituencies it was as low as 20%, and there were similarly low numbers in some other cities.
Complete provisional results were released by the Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reform on September 28. These results showed TIM winning 106 of the 127 seats; the remaining seats were won by independent candidates or regional parties, except for that of Befandriana-Avaratra
constituency, which was won by LEADER-Fanilo candidate Jonah Parfait Prezaly, and that of Benenitra
constituency, which was won by Liaraike
candidate Gaston Rakotobezanahary
.
Observers from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA) and the African Union
gave a positive appraisal of the election.
The High Constitutional Court confirmed the results on October 13, making them official. It annulled the election in two constituencies, Bealanana
and Mananara Avaratra, requiring the election to be held over again there. In Bealanana, TIM candidate Julien Ramanandray had won with 42.90% of the vote according to the provisional results, while in Mananara Avaratra, opposition independent candidate Boniface Zakahely had won with 44.68% of the vote according to the provisional results. Zakahely said that the government was trying to keep him out of the National Assembly, but he vowed to win the revote regardless. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison for assault and battery by the Court of Appeal of Toamasina on November 7. The vote was repeated in the two annulled constituencies on 14 November 2007.
The new National Assembly began sitting on October 23, having been delayed by one week. When the new session of the National Assembly began, Jacques Sylla was elected as the President of the National Assembly; he was the only candidate and received 123 votes from the 124 participating deputies. Ravalomanana named a new government on October 27. Ministers Donat Andriamahefamparany and Koto Bernard, who were elected to the National Assembly, left their posts; Deputy Minister Harifidy Ramilison, the only one of the seven ministers running in the election to be defeated, was also excluded from the government on this occasion.
On November 21, the High Constitutional Court announced the final results of the partial election: in Mananara Avaratra, Boniface Zakahely won again in the rerun with 62.75% of the vote, while in Bealanana, TIM was defeated by Antoko Miombona Ezaka candidate Lazafeno
, who won 52.61% of the vote. The Court ordered candidates who received at least 10% of the vote to be compensated for the expense of printing ballot papers.
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
on 23 September 2007, with the vote to be repeated in two constituencies on 14 November 2007. 637 candidates contested the election, in which the 127 seats in the National Assembly
National Assembly of Madagascar
The Parliament has two chambers. The lower house is the National Assembly .The Assembly has 160 members, elected for a four year term in single-member and two-member constituencies...
were at stake.
In Toliara Province
Toliara Province
Toliara is a former province of Madagascar with an area of 161,405 km². It had a population of 2,229,550 . Its capital was Toliara...
on 20 July 2007, President Marc Ravalomanana
Marc Ravalomanana
Marc Ravalomanana is a Malagasy politician who was the President of Madagascar from 2002 to 2009. A member of the Merina ethnic group, Ravalomanana served as Mayor of Antananarivo before becoming President in 2002...
announced he would soon dissolve the National Assembly, leading to an early parliamentary election. Speaking to the press on July 24, Ravalomanana cited the need to adapt to the situation under the constitutional changes
Malagasy constitutional referendum, 2007
A constitutional referendum was held in Madagascar on 4 April 2007. The proposed changes, which voters were asked to approve or reject as a whole, included:*expansion of presidential powers in cases of emergency...
passed earlier this year as grounds for dissolving parliament before the end of its term in May 2008. The decision was finally announced on 26 July 2007 after a Council of Ministers meeting; the ministers had agreed to reduce the number of parliamentarians from 160 to 127 to be elected in the 119 districts of Madagascar
Districts of Madagascar
Districts are second-level administrative divisions of Madagascar below the regions. Districts are in their turn divided into communes; while some of the districts on urban areas such as the district of Toliara consists of only one commune, most of the districts are divided typically into...
across the country.
All candidacies had to be submitted by August 14. The High Constitutional Court released its official list of 1,542 validated candidates on August 23.Iloniaina Alain, "Madagascar: Hémorragie au sein du Tim - Des membres du Tim qui se représentent sous diverses étiquettes aux législatives.", L'Express de Madagascar (allAfrica.com), August 24, 2007 . The ruling Tiako I Madagasikara
Tiako I Madagasikara
Tiako I Madagasikara is a political party in Madagascar founded by a group of individuals on July 3, 2002 to support President Marc Ravalomanana. It is now the largest party in the National Assembly of Madagascar with 106 of 127 seats, after the parliamentary election held on September 23, 2007....
(TIM) was the only party with candidates in all constituencies; these candidates included only about a fifth of the TIM deputies in the previous National Assembly. About 20 of the deputies not nominated by TIM as candidates ran as independents instead; TIM President Razoarimihaja Solofonantenaina described them as "not serious challengers". Seven ministers in the government were nominated as TIM candidates: Yvan Randriasandratriniony
Yvan Randriasandratriniony
Yvan Randriasandratriniony is a Malagasy politician who has been President of Tiako i Madagasikara , the ruling party, since October 2007. He was Minister of Agriculture, Breeding and Fishing from March 2002 to January 2004, Minister near the Presidency in charge of Decentralization and Regional...
, Minister near the Presidency in charge of Decentralization, in Fianarantsoa
Fianarantsoa
Fianarantsoa is a city in south central Madagascar.Fianarantsoa is the capital of Haute Matsiatra Region. It was built in the early 19th century by the Merina as the administrative capital for the newly conquered Betsileo kingdoms....
I; Koto Bernard, Minister of the Environment, in Ifanadiana
Ifanadiana
Ifanadiana is a town and commune in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Ifanadiana, which is a part of Vatovavy-Fitovinany Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 14,000 in 2001 commune census....
; Robinson Jean Louis, Minister of Health, in Alaotra-Mangoro
Alaotra-Mangoro
Alaotra-Mangoro is a region in eastern Madagascar. It borders Sofia Region in north, Analanjirofo in northeast, Atsinanana in east, Vakinankaratra in southwest, Analamanga in west and Betsiboka in northwest. The capital of the region is Ambatondrazaka, and the population was estimated to be 877,700...
; Patrick Ramiaramanana
Patrick Ramiaramanana
Patrick Xavier Heriniaina Ramiaramanana is a Malagasy politician. He was Mayor of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, before serving in the government from 2007 to 2008....
, Minister of Energy, in Antananarivo
Antananarivo
Antananarivo , formerly Tananarive , is the capital and largest city in Madagascar. It is also known by its French colonial shorthand form Tana....
I; Andriamparany Radavidson, Minister of Finance, in Antananarivo IV; Donat Olivier Andriamahefamparany, Minister of Mines, in Antananarivo V; and Harifidy Ramilison, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, in Fort-Dauphin
Tôlanaro
Tôlanaro or Tolagnaro is a city in Madagascar. It is the capital of Anosy Region and of Tôlanaro District. It has a port of local importance, and a new port has been built at Ehoala...
. Many criticized the candidacies of these ministers because they were expected to remain in the government after the election, leaving their National Assembly seats to their substitutes. Another notable TIM candidate was former Prime Minister Jacques Sylla
Jacques Sylla
Jacques Hugues Sylla was a Malagasy politician. He was the Prime Minister of Madagascar under President Marc Ravalomanana from February 2002 until January 2007. He subsequently served as the President of the National Assembly of Madagascar from 2007 until 2009.Sylla was born on the island of...
on Île Sainte-Marie
Île Sainte-Marie
Île Sainte-Marie, known as Nosy Boraha , is an island off the east coast of Madagascar. The main town is Ambodifotatra. The city covers an area of 222 km2, and had a population estimated at 16,325 in 2001.- City :...
.
An alliance of opposition parties agreed to nominate a single candidate for each constituency, but although they reached a consensus on single candidates in some constituencies, in most cases they did not. One notable opposition candidate is Jean Lahiniriko
Jean Lahiniriko
Jean Lahiniriko is a Malagasy politician. He served in the government of Madagascar as Minister of Public Works from 2002 to 2003 and was President of the National Assembly of Madagascar from 2003 to 2006. Subsequently he was the second place candidate in the 2006 presidential election...
, who was elected as a TIM candidate in the December 2002 parliamentary election
Malagasy parliamentary election, 2002
Parliamentary elections were held in Madagascar on 15 December 2002. They were won by the Tiako I Madagasikara party of President Marc Ravalomanana, which took 103 of the 160 seats. Voter turnout was 67.86% of the 5,844,564 registered voters.-Results:...
and became President of the National Assembly before having a falling out with the ruling party and running against Ravalomanana in the December 2006 presidential election
Malagasy presidential election, 2006
Presidential elections were held in Madagascar on 3 December 2006. President Marc Ravalomanana, in office since he prevailed in a dispute over election results in 2002, ran for re-election...
. He stood as a candidate in the parliamentary election for his new party, the Socialist and Democratic Party for the Unity of Madagascar (PSDUM), in the Betioky South constituency.
The former ruling party AREMA
Association for the Rebirth of Madagascar
The Association for the Rebirth of Madagascar or Pillar and Structure for the Salvation of Madagascar is a political party in Madagascar.*National secretary: Pierrot Rajaonarivelo...
was divided on whether to contest the election. The faction of the party associated with former president Didier Ratsiraka
Didier Ratsiraka
Vice Admiral Didier Ratsiraka is a Malagasy politician who was President of Madagascar from 1975 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2002.-Second Republic:...
chose not to participate, unlike the faction associated with Pierrot Rajaonarivelo
Pierrot Rajaonarivelo
Pierrot Jocelyn Rajaonarivelo is a Malagasy politician and National Secretary of the AREMA party. He served in the government of Madagascar as Deputy Prime Minister from 1997 to 2002, under President Didier Ratsiraka. He went into exile when Ratsiraka was ousted in 2002, and he was subsequently...
. The Ratsiraka faction sought to prevent the Rajaonarivelo faction's participation, but on August 23 the High Constitutional Court ruled that it could participate.
The election campaign began on September 8 and continued for two weeks.
There were about 7.5 million registered voters in this election and 17,586 polling stations across the country.
Provisional results on September 24 showed TIM winning all six of the constituencies in Antananarivo, the capital, where each constituency is represented by two deputies. In the city of Toamasina
Toamasina
Toamasina , meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French also Tamatave, is a city on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief seaport of the country, situated northeast of its capital and biggest city Antananarivo, near the centre of the eastern coast...
, considered an opposition stronghold, TIM candidate Pierrot Botozaza was victorious. TIM also won in the cities of Fianarantsoa and Antsiranana
Antsiranana
Antsiranana , named Diego-Suarez prior to 1975, is a city at the northern tip of Madagascar.Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region.-Transports:...
, but in one of the main cities it suffered a defeat, with its candidate losing to an independent candidate, Harinjatovo Rakotondramanana ("Hary Kalizy"), in the Mahajanga
Mahajanga
Mahajanga is a city and a district on the north-west coast of Madagascar.- City :The City of Mahajanga is the capital of the Boeny region. Population: 135,660 ....
I constituency.
Voter turnout was low, particularly in urban areas; in some of the Antananarivo constituencies it was as low as 20%, and there were similarly low numbers in some other cities.
Complete provisional results were released by the Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reform on September 28. These results showed TIM winning 106 of the 127 seats; the remaining seats were won by independent candidates or regional parties, except for that of Befandriana-Avaratra
Befandriana-Avaratra
Befandriana-Avaratra is a city and urban commune in northern Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Befandriana-Nord, which is a part of Sofia Region...
constituency, which was won by LEADER-Fanilo candidate Jonah Parfait Prezaly, and that of Benenitra
Benenitra
Benenitra is a town in Atsimo-Andrefana Region, Madagascar....
constituency, which was won by Liaraike
Liaraike
Liaraike is a political party in Madagascar. In the 23 September 2007 National Assembly elections, the party won 1 out of 127 seats. -References:...
candidate Gaston Rakotobezanahary
Gaston Rakotobezanahary
Gaston Rakotobezanahary is a Malagasy politician. A member of the National Assembly of Madagascar, he was elected as a member of the Liaraike party; he represents the constituency of Benenitra.-References:*...
.
Observers from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, is a free trade area with nineteen member states stretching from Libya to Zimbabwe. COMESA formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area which had existed since 1981...
(COMESA) and the African Union
African Union
The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...
gave a positive appraisal of the election.
The High Constitutional Court confirmed the results on October 13, making them official. It annulled the election in two constituencies, Bealanana
Bealanana
Bealanana is a town and commune in western Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Bealanana, which is a part of Sofia Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 14,000 in 2001 commune census....
and Mananara Avaratra, requiring the election to be held over again there. In Bealanana, TIM candidate Julien Ramanandray had won with 42.90% of the vote according to the provisional results, while in Mananara Avaratra, opposition independent candidate Boniface Zakahely had won with 44.68% of the vote according to the provisional results. Zakahely said that the government was trying to keep him out of the National Assembly, but he vowed to win the revote regardless. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison for assault and battery by the Court of Appeal of Toamasina on November 7. The vote was repeated in the two annulled constituencies on 14 November 2007.
The new National Assembly began sitting on October 23, having been delayed by one week. When the new session of the National Assembly began, Jacques Sylla was elected as the President of the National Assembly; he was the only candidate and received 123 votes from the 124 participating deputies. Ravalomanana named a new government on October 27. Ministers Donat Andriamahefamparany and Koto Bernard, who were elected to the National Assembly, left their posts; Deputy Minister Harifidy Ramilison, the only one of the seven ministers running in the election to be defeated, was also excluded from the government on this occasion.
On November 21, the High Constitutional Court announced the final results of the partial election: in Mananara Avaratra, Boniface Zakahely won again in the rerun with 62.75% of the vote, while in Bealanana, TIM was defeated by Antoko Miombona Ezaka candidate Lazafeno
Lazafeno
Lazafeno is a Malagasy politician. A member of the National Assembly of Madagascar, he was elected from the Antoko Miombona Ezaka party; he represents the constituency of Bealanana.-References:*...
, who won 52.61% of the vote. The Court ordered candidates who received at least 10% of the vote to be compensated for the expense of printing ballot papers.