Marc Ravalomanana

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Marc Ravalomanana
President of Madagascar
In office 6 May 2002 – 17 March 2009
Prime Minister	Tantely Andrianarivo Jacques Sylla Jean-Jacques Rasolondraibe Jacques Sylla Charles Rabemananjara
Preceded by	Didier Ratsiraka
Succeeded by	Andry Rajoelina (as President of the High Authority of Transition)
Born	12 December 1949 (1949-12-12) (age 59) Imerinkasinina, Madagascar
Spouse	Lalao Ravalomanana
Religion	Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar

Marc Ravalomanana (born December 12, 1949, in Imerinkasinina)^[1][2] is a Malagasy politician who was the President of Madagascar from 2002 to 2009. A member of the Merina ethnic group,^[1] Ravalomanana served as Mayor of Antananarivo before becoming President in 2002. He took office as President amidst a dispute over the results of the December 2001 presidential election in which he successfully pressed his claim to have won a majority in the first round. He was re-elected in December 2006, again with a majority in the first round.

Contents 1 Entry into politics 2 Presidency 2.1 Malagasy political crisis (2009) 2.2 Resignation from the Presidency 2.3 Sentencing 3 Personal life 4 Honours 5 References 6 See also

[edit] Entry into politics

In the municipal elections held on November 14, 1999, Ravalomanana was elected as mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, receiving 45% of the vote^[2] and defeating former Prime Minister Guy Willy Razanamasy.^[3] As mayor he was credited with successfully cleaning up the capital.^[1][4] He announced on August 5, 2001 that he would run for President in the election to be held later that year on December 16;^[5][6] two months later, polls showed him to be ahead of the incumbent president, Didier Ratsiraka. Following the election, official results put Ravalomanana in first place, with 46%, against Ratsiraka's 40%; without a majority, a run-off would be required between the two. Ravalomanana, however, claimed to have won a majority in the first round, and he refused to participate in a run-off, instead demanding that the High Constitutional Court review the votes. Ratsiraka's supporters then blockaded the capital, which Ravalomanana's supporters controlled. Ravalomanana declared himself president on February 22, 2002. After a recount, on April 29, 2002 the High Constitutional Court pronounced Ravalomanana the winner of the election, and he was sworn in for a second time on May 6. The Presidency remained disputed, however, until fighting forced Ratsiraka to flee into exile on July 5, 2002, after he had lost control of most of the country's provinces.^[6]

Ravalomanana is the founder of Tiako I Madagasikara, which was the ruling party during his presidency, although he is not currently a member because, as President, he was barred from membership in a political party.^[7]

[edit] Presidency

Ravalomanana is credited with improving the country's infrastructure, such as roads, along with making improvements in education and health, but has faced criticism for his lack of progress against poverty; purchasing power is said to have declined during his time in office.^[8][9] On November 18, 2006, his plane was forced to divert from Madagascar's capital during a return trip from Europe following reports of a coup underway in Antananarivo and shooting near the airport;^[10] however, this coup attempt was unsuccessful.

Ravalomanana ran for a second term in the presidential election held on December 3, 2006.^[11] According to official results, he won the election with 54.79% of the vote in the first round; his best results were in Antananarivo Province, where he received the support of 75.39% of voters.^[12] He was sworn in for his second term on January 19, 2007.^[13]

Ravalomanana dissolved the National Assembly in July 2007, prior to the end of its term, following a constitutional referendum earlier in the year. Ravalomanana said that a new election needed to be held so that the National Assembly would reflect the changes made in this referendum.^[14]

In December 2008 the major donors of Madagascar (IMF, World Bank, European Union, African Development Bank) suspended the disbursement of direct budget support due to budgetary misconduct mainly involving mixing the president's business interests with state interests.^[15]

[edit] Malagasy political crisis (2009)

Following a week of political protests in Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, then mayor of Antananarivo, demanded that Ravalomanana step down from the presidency on January 31 2009, calling Ravalomanana a dictator, a scoundrel and a thief. Ravalomanana responded by firing Rajoelina, citing a law which allows the government to remove officials who fail to do their job. This move, however, is considered not in line with the country's laws by constitutional lawyers,^[who?] but rather another sign of abusing the president's executive powers to repress the mayor, who won a landslide victory in December 2007 against the President's candidate for the job of mayor of the capital.^[16] Several pleas by the churches, the Secretary General of the UN and the local diplomatic community to the President to begin a dialogue with his political opponent in order to find a peaceful solution to the political crisis were ignored.

On February 7, 2009, an opposition rally was held with twenty thousand in attendance. Following the call of opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, the crowd started to march toward the president's office in downtown Antananarivo. As the demonstrators tried to enter the presidential palace the presidential guards opened fire, killing at least thirty people and leaving dozens injured.^[17] By doing so, Ravalomanana becomes the third president (after his predecessors Didier Ratsiraka^[18] and Philbert Tsiranana) in recent Malagasy history to allow the defence forces to shoot at the crowd. Afterwards, Ravalomanana addressed his people on national television urging them to remain calm.

After two weeks of extreme tensions between the two rival political camps in the capital – with Ravalomanana adopting a position of force based on constitutional grounds of being the supreme leader of the armed forces. On March 10, army leaders forced the recently appointed defence secretary to resign (the previous one had decided to resign after the killings by the presidential guard on February 7, 2009). They also announced that they gave the opponents 72 hours to find a solution to the crisis through dialogue before they would take further action. This move came after the leaders of the main military camp had announced a day earlier that they would not execute orders coming from the presidency any more since their duty was to protect the people, and not to oppress them, as had been done over the previous few days.^[19][20]

Straight after the resignation of the defence secretary, Ravalomanana addressed the people. He accepted having made mistakes and promised to listen to the grievances of the protesters.^[21]

Wikinews has related news: Madagascar President resigns, unclear rule in Antananarivo

On March 16 the army seized the Ambohitsorohitra presidential palace in the centre of Antananarivo. Ravalomanana was not in the palace at the time.^[22]

[edit] Resignation from the Presidency

Some^[who?] thought that Ravalomanana resigned on 17 March 2009 after losing support of the military and under intense pressure from Rajoelina. In truth, Ravalomanana assigned his powers to a military council loyal to himself headed by Vice-Admiral Hyppolite Ramaroson.^[23] The military called the move by Ravalomanana a "ploy"^[23] and said that it would support Rajoelina as leader.^[24] Ravalomanana fled to Swaziland.^[25]

Rajoelina had already declared himself the new leader a month earlier and has since assumed the role of acting President. He has appointed Monja Roindefo as Prime Minister.^[26] Rajoelina announced that elections would be held in two years and that the constitution would be amended.^[24]

The European Union, amongst other international entities, has refused to recognise the new government, due to it being installed by force.^[27] The African Union and the Southern Africa Development Community both criticised the forced resignation of Ravalomanana.^[24] United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson said he is "gravely concerned about the evolving developments in Madagascar".^[28]

[edit] Sentencing

President Ravalomanana was sentenced to four years in prison on 2 June 2009.^[29][25][30] The jail term was granted for an "alleged abuse of office" which, according to Justice Minister Christine Razanamahasoa, included the purchase of a presidential jet.^[29][25] The jet, said to be worth $60 million, was bought in December 2008.^[30] Razanamahasoa claimed Ravalomanana "mixed public interests with his personal interests".^[29] Ravalomanana was also fined $70 million (£42 million).^[29]

Ravalomanana was in exile in South Africa at the time.^[29] He had been prevented from returning to Madagascar the previous month.^[25] He had previously spent time in Swaziland.^[30]

[edit] Personal life

Ravalomanana is known for his fervent Christian faith.^[6] He is at present the head layman of the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM), a Reformed Protestant church in Madagascar with 2.5 million adherents. In office, he has been outspoken about his religion and in 2005 he said that he "dream[s] of a Christian nation"; critics called this a violation of the constitution, which described the state as secular^[31] until a 2007 constitutional referendum removed that, along with other changes.

He claims also to be an avid farmer. Upon becoming president he set up a dairy farm and rice fields to be displayed on the property of the presidential palace in Iavoloha outside the capital.

Three of his children have been married while he was in office. His eldest daughter runs the MBS media group which controls the second largest radio and television network in the country as well as a number of minor newspapers.

His personal residence is in Faravohitra, a neighbourhood of the old city of Antananarivo.

[edit] Honours

Awarded the Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean from the Republic of Mauritius and the Special class of the Grand Cross (Sonderstufe des Großkreuzes) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2006.^[32]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-IV), 2008.

Political offices
Preceded by Guy Razanamasy	Mayor of Antananarivo 1999–2002	Succeeded by Patrick Ramiaramanana
Preceded by Didier Ratsiraka	President of Madagascar 2002–2009	Succeeded by Andry Rajoelina President of the High Authority of Transition

v • d • e Presidents of Madagascar Tsiranana | Ramanantsoa | Ratsimandrava | Andriamahazo | Ratsiraka | Zafy | Ratsirahonana (interim) | Ratsiraka | Ravalomanana | Rajoelina