The Third Republic
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Zafy’s presidency and impeachment
In February 1993 Zafy was elected the first president of the Third Republic. His term of office was marked by a continual instability that stemmed from several factors. First, his coalition of support was composed of several distinct party formations, each of which was headed by someone with more political experience than Zafy. Furthermore, Zafy’s own supporters constituted only a minority in the coalition. Moreover, the National Assembly was extremely fragmented: the largest body of deputies was composed of independents with no party affiliation, many of whom had been elected on the basis of their personal appeal. Even the parties that were represented in the assembly were themselves loose agglomerations. In addition, Zafy’s election had disturbed an informal balance between people of the plateau and the côtiers, the people of the coast, in which the people of the plateau had largely dominated the public administration and the professions while those from coastal groups had dominated politics. With the exception of the short-lived Ramanantsoa and Ratsimandrava regimes, the Malagasy president had always been drawn from a coastal group. Under Zafy’s regime, resentment of this shift of balance led to continued opposition from Ratsiraka supporters in the form of a demand for a federal state.
Madagascar’s pronounced economic difficulties also continued during Zafy’s administration. Economic survival—to say nothing of development—depended on aid from foreign donors, most notably the World Bank and the IMF. However, this placed Zafy at odds with one of his sources of political support, a section of the Malagasy elite that was opposed to dependency on foreign grants, especially when these were made conditional on certain actions on the part of the Malagasy government. They were particularly opposed to the conditions imposed by the World Bank and the IMF for continued privatizations and for further reductions in the size of government and in government subsidies for consumption, measures that would have harmed both the bureaucracy and the urban poor, two groups that had formed the basis of Zafy’s anti-Ratsiraka coalition. In lieu of accepting the IMF’s conditions for the resumption of aid, Zafy unsuccessfully sought private sources of investment.
Zafy attempted to strengthen his position through a referendum intended to allow the president, rather than the National Assembly, to name the prime minister. Although Zafy subsequently appointed a prime minister and a government more to his liking, opposition to his regime and consequent instability continued. By 1996 the opposition to Zafy had reached the point of street demonstrations and demands that he cease playing an active role as president; strikes reminiscent of those that had brought down the Ratsiraka regime continued. In July 1996 the National Assembly voted to impeach Zafy; in September the High Constitutional Court removed him from office and appointed an interim president charged with the task of organizing a presidential election.
Ratsiraka’s return to power
The results of the first round of the subsequent presidential election led to a runoff election between Zafy and Ratsiraka on December 29, 1996. Although Ratsiraka won the election, abstention was high and the total number of valid votes represented only about half the electorate. Ratsiraka’s victory did not signify an end to Madagascar’s political turmoil: because of the narrowness of Ratsiraka’s margin, Zafy and his supporters first contested the election results and then proceeded to hold protests and demonstrations. On February 4, 1998, the National Assembly voted to impeach Ratsiraka, but the vote fell short of the two-thirds majority required for a successful conviction. That same year, Ratsiraka oversaw significant constitutional revisions, including the provision for Madagascar to become a federal state, with a large measure of autonomy conferred on the six existing provinces. The constitutional revisions also strengthened the power of the president.
Both the country’s economic prospects and Ratsiraka’s political situation improved in mid-1999 with the signing of an agreement that guaranteed the release of further credits by the IMF, a measure that not only provided much-needed funds but also cleared the way for the release of other forms of aid and the reopening of foreign investment.
Political crisis and renewal
The 2001 presidential election brought one of the most serious political crises in the country’s history since independence. Although the official vote tally gave no candidate the necessary number of votes to declare victory outright, Ratsiraka’s main opponent, Marc Ravalomanana, claimed that he was the clear winner of the December election and that the results had been tampered with. Ravalomanana’s supporters staged numerous demonstrations as well as a national strike that lasted several weeks. In February 2002 Ravalomanana declared himself president and began establishing his administration, despite the fact that the international community did not recognize him as the legitimate leader of the country, and Ratsiraka still claimed the presidency. His supporters fought with those of Ratsiraka, each side eventually controlling various sections of the country. In late April the country’s High Constitutional Court declared Ravalomanana the winner of the disputed election, but fighting between the two sides did not cease until midsummer, when Ravalomanana’s forces were able to take control over areas previously held by Ratsiraka’s supporters. Ravalomanana secured recognition by the United States and France in late June and early July, respectively, and Ratsiraka fled the country shortly thereafter.
The political crisis weakened the country’s economy and overall stability. Ravalomanana promptly addressed the situation, implementing economic reforms and working tirelessly to entice foreign investors back to the country; his efforts won praise from foreign donors and international organizations, and in 2004 the IMF and the World Bank announced plans to write off nearly half of Madagascar’s outstanding debt.
Although Ravalomanana was gradually recognized by the international community as the legitimate leader of Madagascar, he was still faced with periodic unrest at home, including failed coup attempts in 2003 and 2006. In mid-2006 Ravalomanana announced that presidential elections would be held ahead of schedule in December of that year. Although some concerns over irregularities were noted, Ravalomanana won reelection to the presidency in December elections generally considered free and fair by international observers.
Maureen Ann CovellPower struggle
Despite his reelection, Ravalomanana was not without detractors, and in late 2008 Andry Rajoelina, Antananarivo’s mayor, emerged as a leading opposition figure. Rajoelina called for Ravalomanana to step down, accusing him of misappropriating public funds and ruling the country as a dictator. The ongoing power struggle between Ravalomanana and Rajoelina came to a head in January 2009, when dozens were killed during opposition protests. Rajoelina was fired from his mayoral post, and the struggle between the two leaders developed into a tense stalemate with sporadic bouts of violence. The crisis intensified in March, when the head of the army was removed by a faction of troops who no longer supported Ravalomanana’s administration. Meanwhile, Rajoelina had expressed his intent to create a parallel government—with himself as president—and continued his calls for Ravalomanana to resign. Ravalomanana refused to step down and on March 15 proposed holding a referendum in an effort to resolve the crisis; this offer was rejected by Rajoelina. The next day, a presidential palace and the central bank were seized by the military, and Rajoelina established a presence at the palace. Although Ravalomanana had the support of the international community, on March 17 he agreed to step down and hand power to the military. Military leaders in turn transferred power to Rajoelina, who had already declared himself president and promised to draft a new constitution and hold elections within two years. The military’s unconstitutional transfer of power to Rajoelina was widely condemned as a coup by the international community, and Madagascar was suspended from both the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Most financial aid to Madagascar was suspended as well, and the country became increasingly isolated.
In exile on the African continent, Ravalomanana tried to gather international support for his reinstatement to the presidency. Meanwhile, Ravalomanana’s supporters in Madagascar regularly demonstrated against Rajoelina’s fledgling government. As the political dispute between Rajoelina and Ravalomanana continued, initial attempts at negotiating an agreement between them met with little success over the next several months. A breakthrough occurred in early August, however, when several international organizations—including the SADC, AU, United Nations, and International Organization of the Francophonie—sponsored mediation talks in Maputo, Mozam. The talks, which were led by former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, included not only Rajoelina and Ravalomanana but also former presidents Zafy and Ratsiraka, both of whom still enjoyed political support in Madagascar. On August 9, 2009, it was announced that the four Malagasy politicians had agreed to the formation of a transitional unity government and to the scheduling of presidential and legislative elections within 15 months.
Rajoelina, Ravalomanana, Zafy, and Ratsiraka met again in Maputo for several days beginning in late August to decide how to allocate positions in the transitional unity government but were unable to come to an agreement about the top three positions by the September 4 deadline. Days after the deadline passed, Rajoelina unilaterally formed his own transitional unity government, with himself remaining as president; his actions were widely condemned for violating the August 9 power-sharing agreement. Additional talks were held, and on October 6, 2009, the parties involved announced that they had come to an agreement on the top three positions in the transitional unity government. Rajoelina was allowed to remain president on the condition that he would not be a candidate in the next presidential election. Following some difficulties with refining the final details of the agreement, additional talks ensued, including those held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in early November. On November 7, 2009, Rajoelina, Ravalomanana, Zafy, and Ratsiraka signed an agreement providing for a slightly revised transitional unity government structure, with Rajoelina remaining as president but ruling with two copresidents.
The agreement began unraveling in early December 2009, however, when Rajoelina refused to participate in the last round of power-sharing talks, held in Maputo, which aimed to resolve the final details of the new transitional unity government. Ravalomanana, Zafy, Ratsiraka, and international mediators proceeded without him and reached an agreement on December 8, but Rajoelina refused to accept it. Nonetheless, on December 18, Ravalomanana, Zafy, and Ratsiraka announced their intent to establish the transitional unity government. Within hours, Rajoelina dismissed the prime minister who had been appointed in October as a result of previous power-sharing agreement talks, and on December 20 Rajoelina announced that he was abandoning the power-sharing agreement entirely. After months of international pressure—and a few days after he was issued an ultimatum by the military to end the ongoing political crisis—on April 14, 2010, Rajoelina announced he was willing to form an interim government with the opposition under the terms of a new agreement proposed by France, South Africa, and the SADC. Talks between Rajoelina and the other three Malagasy leaders failed, however. The next month he unilaterally formed what he deemed to be a neutral government. He also scheduled a constitutional referendum and presidential and parliamentary elections for later in the year, all of which he postponed, however. Meanwhile, in August 2010 a Malagasy court convicted Ravalomanana in absentia of murder and sentenced him to life in prison with hard labour.
The constitutional referendum was eventually held on November 17, 2010. The new constitution proposed a lower age requirement for the presidency—a change that would make the young Rajoelina eligible for the position—and did not set an end date for Rajoelina’s transitional regime. Although the new constitution was approved, the referendum was marred by a boycott by the primary opposition groups and was widely criticized by the international community. Also on November 17, a small faction of the army announced its intent to overthrow Rajoelina’s government. The attempted coup quickly foundered, though, leading to a standoff between the small faction supporting the coup and the rest of the army that still supported Rajoelina. The mutinous soldiers surrendered a few days later. The new constitution was promulgated in December 2010, and Rajoelina declared the start of the Fourth Republic.
The Fourth Republic
Madagascar’s political uncertainty continued. Yet another SADC-brokered agreement was signed in September 2011, giving way to a unity government being formed in November, although it was rejected by some opposition groups. The agreement also provided for presidential and legislative elections to be held within a year, but that failed to transpire, as additional political squabbles led to further delays. Meanwhile, as the political crisis continued, the country remained diplomatically isolated and cut off from much needed donor aid and tourism revenue, which continued to wreak havoc on the economy and the lives of the Malagasy people.
In January 2013 both Rajoelina and Ravalomanana agreed to a SADC plan which stipulated that neither one of them would run in the upcoming presidential election, but, after Ravalomanana’s wife later declared her intention to run for president, Rajoelina did the same, angering the international community and resulting in funding for the polls to be withdrawn. In August the candidacy of Ravalomanana’s wife and Rajoelina—as well as that of former president Ratsiraka, who had also registered as a candidate—was struck down by the country’s electoral court, and the elections were pushed back once again to allow time for the country’s electoral commission to revise the list of certified candidates to reflect the exclusion of the three.
