ADAGASCAR: Rajoelina down but not out

Photo:

Andre Rajoelina, former mayor of Antananarivo

ANTANANARIVO, 4 February 2009 (IRIN) – Anti-government protesters gathered on 4 February in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, in support of the former mayor of the city, Andry Rajeolina, following his dismissal in the aftermath of demonstrations in which 68 people have been killed.

The government replaced Rajoelina on 3 February with an interim official, but Rajoelina has contested this move. At a press conference he told reporters, “Antananarivo will not support this decision. There is no valid reason to sack me.”

Hundreds of his supporters blocked roads in the Malagasy capital on 4 February before moving on to the city hall where Rajoelina announced his own choice of mayor.

The demonstrations remained calm, but Rajoelina had earlier warned that people, including foreigners, should stay off the streets of Antananarivo.

President stands firm

Addressing the crowd, Rajoelina reiterated his plans to move forward with installing a transitional government on 7 February if President Marc Ravalomanana refuses to step down. The former mayor plans to lead the transitional government in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled to take place in 2011.

Rajoelina has accused the government of failing Madagascar’s poor and has branded the president a dictator, but his attempts to petition the High Constitutional Court to remove the president from his post have proved unsuccessful so far.

According to a statement released by the court, it can only confirm that the president has been removed from his post when both the senate and parliament have started the impeachment process, and when the High Court of Justice has announced the president’s removal. “The competence of the Constitutional Court is limited to confirming the
vacancy of the president of the republic,” said the statement.

As the bitter struggle for power between Rajoelina and Ravalomanana deepens, Antananarivo’s residents are left facing the possibility of months of unrest.

“Nothing is over yet. Rajoelina’s impatience may have restored the president’s fragile popularity for now, but the people of Madagascar still have issues with the government,” one observer told IRIN. “The people have become opportunists and will use any circumstances to protest against the regime.”

The government has appointed Guy Rivo Randrianarisoa to carry on with the administration and management of the Antananarivo municipality. He is a former secretary general of the municipality, and was a special advisor to Rajoelina when the young mayor took power in 2007.

cc/oa source.www.irinnews.org

MADAGASCAR: A rising political star falls to earth

Photo:

Andre Rajoelina in his city

ANTANANARIVO, 3 February 2009 (IRIN) – On 12 December 2007, a young, good-looking and charismatic former disc-jockey stormed onto Madagascar’s political scene. Andry Rajoelina was voted in as the mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, beating the presidential candidate and taking 63 percent of the vote.

On 3 February 2008 news reports said he had been fired after weeks of political turmoil, in which over 80 people died in a power struggle with President Marc Ravalomanana. Rajoelina contested the government’s move, and called for another demonstration on 5 February. 

Rajoelina was a superstar: a symbol of youthfulness and success, popular with female voters. His election campaign reached out to a swath of Malagasy society left disillusioned with a government they had lost trust in, analysts say. In particular, he called for young people to speak out and ‘reclaim’ their political voice.

As a successful entrepreneur at the helm of Injet, an advertising company, Rajoelina’s appeal was instant. Just as that of Ravalomanana – a self-made millionaire – had been when he came to power after elections in 2001.

At the head of the TGV (Tanora Malagasy Vonona – Young Malagasy’s Determined) movement, Rajoelina earned himself the nickname, TGV – as much a reference to his movement as to the French high-speed train.

From the beginning, Rajoelina positioned himself as one of the government’s most vociferous critics, tapping into a vein of anti-government sentiment.

Rajoelina has accused the government of mis-spending public funds and clamping down on press freedoms. He has also denounced controversial plans to lease agricultural land to South Korean company Daewoo.

Head-to-head

In December 2008, the authorities closed VIVA Television, the mayor’s television station, after it aired an address by former President Didier Ratsiraka. That move marked the beginning of a rapid decline in an already strained relationship with the president, which reached boiling point when anti-government protests led by the mayor deteriorated into violence in late January.

Rajoelina had demanded Ravalomanana’s resignation, and announced on 31 January that he was in control of Madagascar’s affairs – a move condemned by the African Union.

Despite his popularity in Antananarivo, Rajoelina has less support elsewhere in the country. “The problem is, people in the provinces didn’t know this man until now,” one of the mayor’s supporters told IRIN at a demonstration in Antananarivo. “Now he must go and explain to people what he is doing.”

Many people on the streets of Antananarivo have been left confused by recent events. For many, Rajoelina represented the first attractive alternative to a president who had himself harnessed the power of popular public support to propel himself to the presidency. Recent violence and strikes, however, have left some doubtful.

“This is not what the people want,” said a shop assistant in the city. “We cannot afford not to work and we are afraid of the violence.”

Rajoelina had called for a general strike, but on 2 February businesses and government offices in the capital remained open.

cc/oa/he source.www.irinnews.org