The office of the Prime Minister of Madagascar, Christian Ntsay, called on Tuesday for presidential elections to be held next November 9 in that country, to reelect the current President Andry Rajoelina or to elect a successor.
The Malagasy government supports the dates initially proposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, which foresees a second electoral round for December 20, if necessary.
“According to the law in force in Madagascar, we are going to hold elections this year. Therefore, the head of government is calling voters to the polls,” the premier’s communiqué specifies.
The elections will take place in a tense context due to the debates on the dual nationality of President Rajoelina, who was born in the Malagasy city of Antsirabe (center) but secretly became a naturalized French citizen in 2014.
However, the Malagasy nationality code indicates that, if a person is granted a foreign citizenship, he automatically loses his Malagasy citizenship and is disqualified from running for public office or leading the country.
So far, for the opposition, only former president Marc Ravalomanana, who was overthrown in 2008 by Andry Rajoelina with the support of the military, has officially announced his candidacy for the presidency of the country.
Madagascar is one of the poorest nations in the world. On June 6, France and the European Union each announced that they would provide financial support of one million euros for the elections.
