Monday, December 11, 2006

Ravalomananamania

By Michael J.W. Stickings

And now... let's turn to the news in Madagascar.

There was a presidential election yesterday, and incumbent Marc Ravalomanana avoided a run-off vote and won re-election with about 55 percent of the vote. Ravalomanana is a dairy tycoon and the former mayor of Antananarivo, the country's capital city. His party is called Tiako i Madagasikara, which means "I love Madagascar". He beat 13 challengers to hold on to the presidency. Eight of those challengers supported a military coup to oust him from power last month. His main opponent, Pierrot Rajaonarivelo, lives in exile in France following the disputed 2001 election, faces arrest should he return, though he tried to return before the election and was prevented from entering the country, and was eventually barred from running.

There's more on the election at Wikipedia. The BBC also has a Q&A.

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