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Presidential elections were held in
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
on 3 December 2006. President
Marc Ravalomanana Marc Ravalomanana (; born 12 December 1949) is a Malagasy politician who served as the sixth List of presidents of Madagascar, president of Madagascar from 2002 to 2009. Born into a farming Merina people, Merina family in Imerinkasinina, near th ...
, in office since he prevailed in a dispute over election results in 2002, ran for re-election. On 9 December, Ravalomanana was declared to have won in the first round with 55% of the vote."Madagascar's president wins election"
, Associated Press (''International Herald Tribune''), 9 December 2006.


Background

In May, the date of the election was moved forward to 3 December, several weeks earlier than had previously been expected. The reason given was that the earlier date could avoid having the election affected by bad weather during the rainy season; the constitutional court approved the new date, saying that it did not violate the constitution. The constitution says an election should be held between 30 and 60 days before the end of a president's mandate. Many of the opposition candidates did not like the earlier date and wanted the election to be postponed;"Presidential hopefuls put their names forward"
AFP (''IOL''), 16 October 2006.
they said that the constitution required that the election not be held before 25 December.


Candidates

Exiled former deputy prime minister
Pierrot Rajaonarivelo Pierrot Jocelyn Rajaonarivelo (born 17 June 1946Biography at official site
.
) is a AREMA opposition party tried to run for president, and was considered Ravalomanana's main opponent,Ed Harris
"Madagascar airport shut to stop Rajaonarivelo"
Reuters (''IOL''), 9 October 2006.
"Q & A: Madagascar election"
''
BBC News Online BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the U ...
'', 1 December 2006.
but he was barred from participation; he was not allowed to enter the country (on one occasion the airport at the eastern city of
Toamasina Toamasina (), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French language, French Tamatave or in the past as Port aux prunes, is the capital of the Atsinanana region on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief ...
was closed to keep him out, and when he tried again to enter the country he was not allowed aboard a plane in nearby
Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
),"Hoping for fair, transparent, uncontroversial elections"
'' IRIN'', 15 November 2006.
and his registration papers, which he could not sign because he was not allowed into the country, were rejected because he had not signed them himself. During his exile, Rajaonarivelo was convicted of misuse of funds, and he could be arrested if he returns to Madagascar. Fourteen other presidential candidates were approved on 18 October, while three others were rejected for not paying a required deposit. Aside from Ravalomanana, presidential candidates included former deputy prime minister Herizo Razafimahaleo, former prime minister and acting president
Norbert Ratsirahonana Norbert Lala Ratsirahonana (born 18 November 1938) is a Malagasy politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Madagascar and acting List of presidents of Madagascar, president of Madagascar from 1996 to 1997. Life and career He was born i ...
, Roland Ratsiraka, nephew of former president
Didier Ratsiraka Didier Ignace Ratsiraka (; 4 November 1936 – 28 March 2021) was a Malagasy politician and naval officer who was the third president of Madagascar from 1975 to 1993 and the fifth from 1997 to 2002. At the time of his death, he was the longest ...
and mayor of Toamasina,"So far, so good in presidential election"
IRIN, 4 December 2006.
and
Jean Lahiniriko Jean Lahiniriko (born April 1, 1956
, who was Speaker of the National Assembly from 2003 until earlier in 2006. One woman also ran for president, Elia Ravelomanantsoa. In mid-November, retired general Andrianafidisoa, commonly known as Fidy, whose candidacy had been rejected for failing to pay the deposit, had leaflets distributed announcing a military takeover; describing Ravalomanana's government as unconstitutional, he called for the military to support him. This led to a clash at a military base in which one soldier was reported killed, and Ravalomanana's plane, carrying him back to Madagascar, had to be diverted from the capital,
Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...
, to another part of the country."Retired Madagascar army general calls for military support against president"
Associated Press (''International Herald Tribune''), 18 November 2006.
"Attempted "coup" fizzles in desire for peaceful poll"
IRIN, 20 November 2006.
Subsequently the situation was described as calm and without any sign of a military takeover. A warrant for Fidy's arrest was issued, and Fidy subsequently denied that there had been a coup attempt, calling that a misinterpretation. On 22 November Fidy received the backing of most of the presidential candidates, who said he was defending the constitution and the interests of the nation. A few days after the election, the government unsuccessfully attempted to arrest one of the candidates who backed Fidy, Pety Rakotoniaina, the mayor of
Fianarantsoa Fianarantsoa is a city (commune urbaine) in south central Madagascar, and is the capital of Haute Matsiatra Region. History It was built in the early 19th century by the Merina as the administrative capital for the newly conquered Betsileo kin ...
."Madagascar tries to arrest opposition politician, offers bounty for attempted coup leader"
Associated Press (''International Herald Tribune''), 7 December 2006.
The government denied that this was because of his support for Fidy and accused him of other crimes, including holding an illegal gathering the day before the election, after the end of campaigning. Fidy was captured on 12 December; Rakotoniaina was not captured until July 2007.


Results

Results from the capital
Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...
, Ravalomanana's main support base, were reported first, and they showed Ravalomanana with 70% of the vote. Challengers Norbert Ratsirahonana and Herizo Razafimahaleo had 11% and 7% of the vote respectively; Roland Ratsiraka had about 5%. Subsequent results from almost 14% of polling stations gave Ravalomanana 66%; Ratsiraka held second place with 9% while Razafimahaleo and Ratsirahonana had 7%. Results from 77% of polling stations showed Ravalomanana with 57% of the vote and Ratsiraka in second place with 10%. On 8 December, with votes counted from 82% of polling stations, counting was temporarily suspended due to electrical power problems. On 9 December, with votes counted from 96% of polling stations, Ravalomanana had 55% of the vote and was declared the winner. Jean Lahiniriko was in second place with 11%. Ballot papers for the candidates Monja Roindefo, Philippe Tsiranana, Ferdinand Razakarimanana, and Manandafy Rakotonirina were not available at polling stations. They had not met the 29 October deadline for submitting the papers and, although they tried to submit them afterward, the government refused to accept them and said that anyone who attempted to distribute ballot papers to polling stations on the day of the election would be arrested. According to results released by the Interior Ministry of Madagascar on 10 December, a total of 61% of the country's registered 7.3 million voters went to the polling stations, giving Ravalomanana 55% of the vote, 12% for Jean Lahiniriko,Official results from the Madagascar Interior Ministry (in French)
.
"Madagascar leader is re-elected"
BBC News, 10 December 2006.
"Ravalomanana likely to win presidential election"
, IRIN, 11 December 2006.
10% for Roland Ratsiraka, and 9% for Razafimahaleo. The figures still needed to be confirmed by the Constitutional High Court to be official. Lahiniriko's campaign director called the results false and said that Ravalomanana had only received about 49%; both Lahiniriko and Ratsiraka said that they were challenging the official results in court. On 23 December the Constitutional High Court confirmed that Ravalomanana won the election with 55% of the vote. The final official results gave Lahiniriko 12% and Ratsiraka 10%."Madagascar confirms poll result"
BBC News, 23 December 2006.
Ravalomanana was sworn in for his second term on 19 January 2007.
, Xinhua, 19 January 2007.


References

{{Malagasy elections
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
Presidential election Presidential elections in Madagascar
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...