NAN
Madagascar’s President Hery Rajaonarimampianina has declared his intention to run for a second term in this year’s elections, which were moved to Nov. 7, after the island nation suffered a protracted political crisis.
“Let us together work towards recovery and development,’’ he said on Friday during the announcement.
Madagascar’s President, Rajaonarimampianina, has lost support since opposition demonstrations earlier in the year demanded his resignation after Madagascar adopted a new electoral law in April.
The opposition said the law favoured the ruling party during elections and placed their candidate at a disadvantage because it restricted campaign financing and media access.
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For more than a month, 73 opposition members of parliament and their supporters gathered in the centre of Antananarivo demanding that the president step down.
There were threats the military would step in if the government did not follow a constitutional court order in May to find a consensus candidate for the post of prime minister and establish a national unity government.
Christian Ntsay, a UN-agency technocrat, was then appointed prime minister of the island off the East African coast and the election was moved to an earlier date though only by a matter of weeks.
“In any country, people are never 100 per cent satisfied,’’ Rajaonarimampianina said on announcing his run.
