Polls opened yesterday in Madagascar’s presidential election, with the incumbent betting on re-election and most opposition candidates boycotting the poll over concerns about the vote’s integrity.
The Indian Ocean island nation is the leading global producer of vanilla, but also one of the world’s poorest countries, and has been shaken by successive political crises since its independence from France in 1960.
Following a nighttime curfew and weeks of protests, voting got calmly under way yesterday morning, with voters emerging from rudimentary polling places, their thumbs stained with green and gold indelible ink.
Photo: AFP
Polls were scheduled to stay open until 5pm local time.
“I’m voting, but we know this isn’t normal,” 43-year-old Eugene Rakatomalala said. “There weren’t any candidates who did campaigns.”
Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina has brushed off criticisms and expressed confidence that he would secure re-election in the first round of voting.
He is one of 13 candidates on the ballot, but 10 of the others have called on voters to shun the elections, complaining of an “institutional coup” in favor of Rajoelina.
“We appeal to everyone not to vote. Conditions for a transparent presidential election, accepted by all, have not been met,” Roland Ratsiraka, one of the protesting candidates, said on Tuesday. “We do not want to participate in this fraud, it is a joke on Madagascar.”
Since early last month, the opposition grouping — which includes two former presidents — has led near-daily, largely unauthorized protest marches in the capital.
They have been regularly dispersed by police firing tear gas.
“We don’t want any more demonstrations, we don’t want any more problems in the country. We want to choose for ourselves, by voting,” Alain Randriamandimby, 43, a T-shirt printer, said yesterday morning.
On Wednesday, authorities imposed a nighttime curfew in the capital Antananarivo, following what the police said were “various acts of sabotage”.
Rajoelina — who first took power in 2009 on the back of a coup, then skipped the following elections only to make a winning comeback in 2018 — has plowed ahead despite the tensions. As his opponents refused to campaign, he flew across the country by private plane, showcasing schools, roads and hospitals built during his tenure.
“It is irresponsible to encourage voters not to vote,” said his campaign spokeswoman Lalatiana Rakotondrazafy, accusing the opposition of wanting to “sabotage” the vote by “attempting to take the entire nation hostage.”
Eleven million people are registered to vote in the country of about 30 million.
Faced with a wide boycott, a strong turnout would be key for Rajoelina.
Less than 55 percent of those registered showed up for the first round of voting at the last elections in 2018. At a newsstand on Wednesday, some residents looked concerned as they scanned through newspaper headlines.
“People have become aware of the dictatorship we live under,” said Chrishani Andrianono, 55, complaining that after 11 years in power, Rajoelina had little to show for it. “We do not see what he did for us.”
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