China Science

The 1990s witnessed the beginning of a tortuous process of transition in Madagascar, from a planned to a liberal economy and from an authoritarian political regime to democracy. The final act of the transition was the presidential election of 16 December 2001 which pitted Admiral Didier Ratsiraka, aged 69, in power for some 25 years, against a businessman, Marc Ravalomanana, whose only political experience was as mayor of the capital city, Antananarivo, for just two years. The first round of voting resulted in a deep disagreement. Ravalomanana, basing his argument on figures compiled by his own support committee, argued that he had won an absolute majority and that therefore he was the outright winner of the election, unless Ratsiraka would agree to a vote count in which official figures were compared with unofficial ones. Ratsiraka’s refusal led to a crisis lasting for six months, which threatened to plunge the country into a civil war. Despite the hesitancy of an international community that found it difficult to choose between supporting one candidate whose argument was based on legitimacy and another who based his case on legality, the crisis ended with a victory for Ravalomanana, who was proclaimed president with majority support in the army. Legislative elections held on 15 December 2002 should give the new government a solid base.

Solofo Randrianja