Madagascar: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: President Andry Rajoelina
Head of Government: Prime Minister Camille Albert Vital

The principal institutions of the Republic of Madagascar are a presidency, a parliament, a prime ministry and cabinet, and an independent judiciary. The president is elected by direct universal suffrage for a 5-year term, renewable twice. The last presidential election was held on December 3, 2006. There is currently no legitimate sitting president or government in Madagascar.

In Madagascar, the parliament has two chambers; the National Assembly and the Senate. The last National Assembly election was held on September 23, 2007, and marked a significant reform to the parliament. The National Assembly has 127 members, elected for a 4-year term in single-member and two-member constituencies. The Senate has 33 members, with 22 members elected for a 6-year term, one for each province by provincial electors, and 11 members appointed by the president. Following the 2009 coup d'etat, the Malagasy National Assembly and Senate were dissolved by the de facto authorities. Thus, there is currently no legitimate legislative body in Madagascar.

The prime minister and members of parliament initiate legislation, and the government executes it. The president can dissolve the National Assembly. For its part, the National Assembly can pass a motion of censure and require the prime minister and council of ministers to step down. The Constitutional Court approves the constitutionality of new laws.

In an effort to decentralize administration, the country's six provinces were dissolved in the constitutional referendum of 2007, in favor of 22 regions. Decentralization is an ongoing process, and was a key element of Madagascar's development plans prior to the 2009 coup d'etat.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS
Madagascar's first President, Philibert Tsiranana, was elected when his Social Democratic Party gained power at independence in 1960 and was reelected without opposition in March 1972. However, he resigned only 2 months later in response to massive antigovernment demonstrations. The unrest continued, and Tsiranana's successor, Gen. Gabriel Ramanantsoa, resigned on February 5, 1975, handing over executive power to Lt. Col. Richard Ratsimandrava, who was assassinated 6 days later. A provisional military directorate then ruled until a new government was formed in June 1975, under Didier Ratsiraka.

During the 16 subsequent years of President Ratsiraka's rule, Madagascar's government was committed to revolutionary socialism based on the 1975 constitution that established a highly centralized state. Elections in 1982 and 1989 returned Ratsiraka for a second and third 7-year presidential term. For much of this period, only limited and restrained political opposition was tolerated, with no direct criticism of the president permitted in the press.

In the late 1980s, the Ratsiraka regime came under increasing pressure to make fundamental changes. With a deteriorating economy, mass demonstrations, and crippling general strikes, the limited economic and political reforms Ratsiraka enacted were insufficient to placate a growing opposition movement known as Hery Velona or "Active Forces." A number of already existing political parties and their leaders, among them Albert Zafy and Rakotoniaina Manandafy, anchored this movement. In a bid to placate this opposition, Ratsiraka replaced his prime minister in August 1991 but suffered an irreparable setback soon thereafter when his troops fired on peaceful demonstrators marching on his suburban palace, killing more than 30. In an increasingly weakened position, Ratsiraka acceded to negotiations on the formation of a transitional government.

The resulting "Panorama Convention" of October 31, 1991, stripped Ratsiraka of nearly all of his powers, created interim institutions, and set an 18-month timetable for completing a transition to a new form of constitutional government. The High Constitutional Court was retained as the ultimate judicial arbiter of the process. In March 1992, a widely representative National Forum organized by the Malagasy Christian Council of Churches (FFKM) drafted a new constitution, which was put to a nationwide referendum in August 1992 and approved by a wide margin, despite efforts by pro-Ratsiraka "federalists" to disrupt balloting in several coastal areas.

Presidential elections were held on November 25, 1992, after the High Constitutional Court had ruled, over "Active Forces" objections, that Ratsiraka could become a candidate. Runoff elections were held in February 1993, and the leader of the Hery Velona movement, Albert Zafy, defeated Ratsiraka. Zafy was sworn in as President on March 27, 1993. After President Zafy's impeachment by the National Assembly in 1996 and the short quasi-presidency of Norbert Ratsirahonana, the 1997 elections once again pitted Zafy and Ratsiraka, with Ratsiraka this time emerging victorious. The National Assembly, dominated by members of President Ratsiraka'a political party AREMA, subsequently passed the 1998 constitution, which considerably strengthened the presidency.

In December 2001, a presidential election was held in which both major candidates claimed victory. The Ministry of the Interior declared incumbent Ratsiraka of the AREMA party victorious. Marc Ravalomanana contested the results and claimed victory. A political crisis followed in which Ratsiraka supporters cut major transport routes from the primary port city to the capital city, a stronghold of Ravalomanana support. Sporadic violence and considerable economic disruption continued until July 2002, when Ratsiraka and several of his prominent supporters fled to exile in France. In addition to political differences, ethnic differences played a role in the crisis and continue to play a role in politics. Ratsiraka is from the coastal Betsimisaraka tribe, and Ravalomanana comes from the highland Merina tribe.

After the end of the 2002 political crisis, President Ravalomanana began many reform projects, advocating "rapid and durable development" and launching a battle against corruption. December 2002 legislative elections gave his newly formed TIM (Tiako-i-Madagasikara--I Love Madagascar) Party a commanding majority in the National Assembly. November 2003 municipal elections were conducted freely, returning a majority of supporters of the president, but also significant numbers of independent and regional opposition figures.

On March 17, 2009, after demonstrations in the capital, President Ravalomanana signed power over to the military, which in turn conferred the presidency on opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, the mayor of Antananarivo and leader of the demonstrations. Rajoelina declared himself “President of the High Transitional Authority” and pledged to hold presidential elections by October 2010 (a pledge that he did not fulfill), following a constitutional referendum and revision of the electoral code. The United States condemned the unconstitutional and undemocratic change of power in Madagascar and considers the series of events of early 2009 that led to the installation of the de facto leadership to be a military coup d'etat.

On September 17, 2011, representatives of most of Madagascar's major political factions signed a "Roadmap for Ending the Crisis in Madagascar," endorsed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which aimed at ending the long political crisis through the formation of a more inclusive, power-sharing interim government that would prepare the country for elections.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Madagascar, which has historically been perceived as on the margin of mainstream African affairs, eagerly rejoined the African Union (AU) in July 2003 after a 14-month hiatus triggered by the 2002 political crisis, and joined SADC in 2006. From 1978 until 1991, then-President Ratsiraka emphasized independence and nonalignment and followed an "all points" policy stressing ties with socialist and radical regimes, including North Korea, Cuba, Libya, and Iran. Taking office in 1993, President Albert Zafy expressed his desire for diplomatic relations with all countries. Early in his tenure, he established formal ties with the Republic of Korea and sent emissaries to Morocco.

Starting in 1997, globalization encouraged the government and President Ratsiraka to adhere to market-oriented policies and to engage world markets. External relations reflected this trend, although Madagascar's physical isolation and strong traditional insular orientation have limited its activity in regional economic organizations and relations with its East African neighbors. During his term, President Ravalomanana welcomed relations with all countries interested in helping Madagascar to develop. He consciously sought to strengthen relations with Anglophone countries as a means of balancing historically strong French influence.

Following the 2009 coup d'etat, Madagascar was suspended from participating in AU and SADC activities until constitutional order is restored. Most donors in Madagascar, including the United States and the European Union, have suspended assistance programs to the Government of Madagascar. The United States currently undertakes only humanitarian assistance programs that have a direct impact on civilian populations in need. The AU formed an International Contact Group to coordinate international community action to ensure a return to constitutional rule as quickly as possible, and SADC appointed former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano as a mediator in the effort to find a consensual, negotiated solution to the ongoing political crisis. Additionally, the AU and others have enacted certain targeted sanctions or travel restrictions on members of the HAT regime who are impeding a return to free, fair, and durable democracy in Madagascar.

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