Despite boycott: Madagascar elects president

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According to election observers, there were only short lines at the polling stations. There was a “low turnout” and the atmosphere in election offices was tense but peaceful, it was said.

The opposition in the vanilla country of 25 million people is accusing incumbent Andry Rajoelina, who is running again as a candidate, of trying to stay in power through illegal means. Ten opposition candidates therefore called on their supporters to stay away from the vote – even though they were listed on the ballot papers that had already been printed.

The opposition accuses Rajoelina of bribing the Constitutional Court and the election commission to boost his election campaign. Before the elections, there were repeated opposition protest marches, some of which were violently broken up by police. The United Nations has expressed concern about the deteriorating human rights situation in the Indian Ocean country.

The election boycott shows that Madagascar lacks “democratic maturity,” Rajoelina said after casting her vote in the capital Antananarivo. ‘Elections are the only democratic way to come to power. That’s what I’m fighting for,” the 49-year-old said. Rajoelina first came to power in a coup in 2009.

However, many registered voters followed the opposition’s call for a boycott. “I don’t vote… and I don’t accept the outcome of such an election,” vegetable seller Sahondra told the German news agency in Antananarivo. Clothing seller Nantenaina described the elections as ‘pointless’ because the government was behaving ‘dictatorially’.

The balance of Rajoelina’s tenure is inadequate: over the past five years, poverty has increased, education levels have fallen and the supply of electricity and drinking water has deteriorated.

The results of the elections must be announced before December 1.

(SDA)

Source: Blick