BFF-28 Madagascar president’s coalition wins parliamentary majority

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Madagascar president’s coalition wins parliamentary majority

ANTANANARIVO, June 15, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Madagascan President Andry
Rajoelina’s coalition has won an absolute majority in the new parliament,
according to provisional results published Saturday by the country’s
electoral commission (CENI), although the opposition is crying foul.

Projections based on the number of votes won by the various parties in the
May 28 election give the president’s is coalition 84 places in the national
assembly’s 151-seat chamber.

Deputies supporting his defeated rival for the presidency, Marc
Ravalomanana — who lost in the second-round presidential run-off last
December — won only 16 seats, according to the provisional results.

The remaining 51 seats went to deputies backing candidates who describe
themselves as independents.

The results published by CENI still have to be validated by the
constitutional court. It will announce its decision in a few weeks, once it
has examined any legal objections.

Turnout was low, at 31 percent, for the May 28 legislative election.

The day after voting, Ravalomanana’s opposition TIM (“I Love Madagascar”)
party said it was preparing legal action over the election.

“We have seen a lot of anomalies in all of the provinces and we are
preparing our appeals,” said Olga Ramalason, a TIM senator.

But an election observer mission from the Southern African Development
Community has praised the peaceful conditions maintained for the election.
The island has a long history of coups and unrest.

The parliamentary election was seen as the latest round of a bitter feud
between Rajoelina and his longstanding rival Ravalomanana and his TIM (“I
Love Madagascar”) party.

The two men have dominated the country’s politics since the early 2000s,
sometimes cooperating but mostly fighting for advantage and high office.

The former French colony is well known for its vanilla and precious
redwood, yet is one of the world’s poorest nations, according to World Bank
data, with 76 percent of people living in extreme poverty.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 2304 hrs