Madagascar President Tested In Crucial Election

VOA News 15.12.2002

Voters in Madagascar go to the polls Sunday in general elections that will test the popularity of President Marc Ravalomanana, whose election victory nearly a year ago plunged the Indian Ocean island nation into political crisis.

Observers say the president's "I Love Madagascar" party is confident it will win an outright majority of the 160 seats at stake in the parliamentary race.

Many members of former President Didier Ratsiraka's AREMA party are boycotting the election, although party members are candidates in a majority of the parliamentary districts.

Mr. Ravalomanana ousted Mr. Ratsiraka from power earlier this year after a dispute over the results of last December's presidential election plunged the country into low-intensity civil strife.

Mr. Ratsiraka's supporters have questioned the new president's legitimacy, saying he took power illegally.

The elections are being held under pressure from western donors, who say the polls are key to returning political stability to Madagascar.

Mr. Ravalomanana burst onto Madagascar's political scene in 1999, when he was voted mayor of the capital, Antananarivo. He has pledged to stamp out corruption and rebuild the economy, which has been battered by the crisis.

The opposition says nothing has changed since Mr. Ravalomanana came to power.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AFP.