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Madagascar

Island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa, about 400 km/280 mi from Mozambique.

Government

Madagascar is an emergent democratic state with a mixed presidential and executive political system. The 2007 constitution provides for a president, elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, renewable twice, and a two-chamber parliament. The legislature comprises a 90-member senate and a 160-member national assembly. Two-thirds of the senators are elected by an electoral college for a six-year term and the remainder are appointed by the president. The national assembly is directly elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term. Executive power is shared between the president and the prime minister. Since 1995 the president has appointed the prime minister, but the assembly can remove the prime minister after a censure motion.

History

Madagascar was colonized over 2,000 years ago by Africans and Indonesians. From the 7th century Arabs established trading posts and in the Middle Ages local chiefs established substantial states. From 1500, Europeans began to visit the island. Portuguese, Dutch, and English traders having given up, the French established a colony in the mid 17th century but fled after a massacre by local inhabitants. Madagascar was subsequently divided into small kingdoms until the late 18th century when, aided by traders and Christian missionaries, the Merina (the inhabitants of the highland area) united almost all the country under one ruler, King Maurice (1776–86), followed by King Andrianampoininmerina (1786–1810). From 1817, Madagascar received British military and financial assistance, after the Merina ruler signed a to abolish the slave trade, which had been important to the economy. France invaded Madagascar in 1883, and in 1885 the country was made a French protectorate. After further fighting during 1895–96, the French annexed the island and the Merina royal family was sent into exile in Algeria.

Independence

Madagascar remained loyal to Vichy France during World War II, but it was taken by British forces 1942–43 and then handed over to the Free French. During the post-war period nationalist movements became active, and Madagascar became an autonomous state within the French Community in 1958 and achieved full independence, as a republic, in 1960. Its history since independence has been greatly influenced by the competing interests of its two main ethnic groups, the coastal people, or cotiers, and the highland Merina.

The first president of the republic was Philibert Tsiranana, leader of the Social Democratic Party, which identified itself with the cotiers and the French settlers (colons). In 1972, after popular protests against the government, Tsiranana stepped down, and the army, led by General Gabriel Ramanantsoa and representing the Merina, took control of the government, which pursued a more nationalist and left-wing line than Tsiranana, developing closer ties with the Soviet Union. This caused resentment among the cotiers and, with rising unemployment, led to a government crisis in 1975. In February 1975 Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava was assassinated after only a few days as president, and in June 1975 Lt-Comdr Didier Ratsiraka seized power in a coup, imposed martial law under a national military directorate, and banned all political parties. Later that year a new, socialist constitution was approved and Ratsiraka, a cotier, was elected president of the Democratic Republic of Madagascar. He cut all ties with France, nationalized much of the economy, and launched a policy of ‘Malgasization’ of the education system. Political parties were permitted again and in 1976 the Andry sy Riana Enti-anavotra an'i Madagasikara (AREMA; Pillar and Structure for the Salvation of Madagascar) party was formed by Ratsiraka as the nucleus of a single party for the state. By 1977 all political activity was concentrated in the National Front for the Defence of the Malagasy Socialist Revolution (FNDR), a political organization embracing all the various party factions, and all the candidates for the national people's assembly were FNDR nominees.

Social and political discontent

In 1977 the National Movement for the Independence of Madagascar (MONIMA), a radical socialist party, withdrew from the FNDR and was declared illegal. MONIMA's leader, Monja Jaona, unsuccessfully challenged Ratsiraka for the presidency and, although his party did well in the capital, AREMA won an overwhelming victory in the 1983 elections. Despite this, social and political discontent continued, particularly among the Merina, who openly demonstrated their opposition to the government. The economy, already weakened by the loss of the skills of French immigrants after independence, deteriorated greatly as a result of Ratsiraka's communist-inspired policies, forcing a move towards a more market economy as the 1980s progressed. President Ratsiraka was re-elected with a 62% popular vote in March 1989, and in May AREMA won 120 of the 137 assembly seats. In 1989 press censorship was ended and political parties began to form in 1990. This did not placate the mounting opposition movement, known as Hery Velona (‘Active Forces’). Calls for a new constitution and democratic reforms were accompanied by strikes and demonstrations in June 1991 and a demand for Ratsiraka's resignation. Opposition forces formed an ‘alternative government’ and in response Ratsiraka declared a state of emergency in July 1991. In August 1991, troops fired on peaceful demonstrators, killing more than 30.

Multiparty system approved

In October 1991 Ratsiraka, Guy Razanamasy, the new prime minister, and opposition representatives signed an agreement for a new unity government. In a referendum in August 1992 a new constitution, providing for multiparty elections, was approved. Ratsiraka survived a coup attempt the same month. A Democrat coalition won the first multiparty elections in October 1992; its leader, Albert Zafy, was elected president in February 1993. In the June 1993 assembly elections, a combination of groupings supporting President Zafy won a working majority and Francisque Ravony was appointed the first prime minister of the Third Republic. Zafy and Ravony later disagreed over whether the assembly or the president should appoint the prime minister. In a referendum on the issue in September 1995, voters decided in favour of the president, and a month later Ravony was replaced as prime minister by Emmanuel Rakotovahiny, an ally of Zafy. A few months later, in May 1996, Rakotovahiny resigned after losing a censure vote, and the president of the constitutional high court, Norbert Ratsirahonana, replaced him. Parliament impeached Zafy and removed him from the presidency in September 1996.

A presidential election in December 1996 was unexpectedly won by Didier Ratsiraka, with a turnout of less than 50%. In 1998 René Andrianarivo was appointed prime minister and the new government, under the influence of the World Bank and the IMF, which provided financial aid, pursued a free-market economy strategy, including privatization.

Natural disaster

Madagascar was left with around 600,000 homeless people after cyclones which had been striking southern Africa swept through the island in March 2000. As well as the dead, aid was considered urgent for an estimated 465,000 people.

Disputed presidential election

There was controversy after the first round of the presidential election, in December 2001. The opposition candidate, Marc Ravalomanana, claimed victory, but Ratsiraka refused to concede defeat. In January 2002, the constitutional court ordered a recount as there had been no clear winner. About 50,000 people took to the streets of Antananarivo in support of Ravalomanana. A court ruling stated that he needed to fight a second round against President Ratsiraka, but his supporters claimed he had won more than half the vote in the first round. In February, Ravalomanana rejected calls for a run-off election and declared himself president. Claiming a majority of the vote, Ravalomanana also appointed a prime minister, Jacques Sylla.

Didier Ratsiraka declared the moves illegal, and declared martial law in Antananarivo on 28 February 2002. Days later, opposition supporters burnt down part of the government headquarters, and violence escalated rapidly in the capital. By 7 March, Ravalomanana and his supporters had taken control of the east coast town of Toamasina, making it his temporary capital. Mediators from African countries arrived in March to try to end the stand-off. However, violent demonstrations continued into April. Supporters of Ratsiraka blew up bridges and blockaded the capital, Antananarivo. Ethnic differences exacerbated the crisis, with Ravalomanana drawn from the highland Merina tribe and Ratsiraka from the coastal Betsimisaraka tribe.

On 12 April 2002, forces loyal to Ravalomanana tried to seize the governor's office in Fianarantsoa, and in the ensuing battle 5 soldiers were killed and 18 injured. By the end of April 2002 over 25 people had been killed in the fighting. In April 2002, the High Constitutional Court annulled the results of the 2001 December elections, and stated that the recount showed Ravalomanana to be the winner with 52% of the vote, with Ratsiraka on 36%. Ratsiraka refused to accept the court's ruling. The continuing uncertainty led the governor of Antsiranana, Jean Robert Gara, to declare the province a sovereign state in a Madagascan confederation. In July 2002 Ratsiraka fled the country for exile in France. This averted an all-out civil war, although forces loyal to him continued antigovernment protests.

Ravlomanana's newly formed Tiako-I-Madagasikara (‘I Love Madagascar’) party won a clear victory in legislature elections in December 2002 and the president survived an attempted coup in January 2003. The new government continued to work with the IMF and the World Bank to liberalize the economy, with some success. It also launched a drive against corruption, and Ratsiraka was sentenced in absentia to ten years of hard labour for embezzling public funds before fleeing the country. In 2004, legislation established 22 regions to decentralize administration.

In November 2006, Ravalomanana survived an attempted military coup and in December 2006 was re-elected president, with 55% of the vote. In April 2007, a new constitution was approved by three-quarters of those voting in a referendum.