AFRICA/MADAGASCAR – Military seizes power: parties seek a way out of the institutional stalemate

Antananarivo – “With the military’s takeover of power and President Andry Rajoelina’s refusal to resign, an institutional stalemate has emerged,” Father Cosimo Alvati, a Salesian with extensive missionary experience in Madagascar, where the military announced they had seized power yesterday, October 14, told Fides. “We will take power today and dissolve the Senate and the High Constitutional Court. The National Assembly will be able to continue its work,” Colonel Michael Randrianirina declared on national television in front of the Presidential Palace in the center of the Malagasy capital.
“The president can be forced to resign by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly, which was dissolved by decree of Rajoelina himself,” explains Father Cosimo. However, the deputies not only rejected the decree dissolving their assembly, but also voted 130 out of 163 to remove Rajoelina. Meanwhile, Rajoelina rejected his removal, stating that the vote had taken place in a “session without any legal basis” and subsequently denouncing a “coup attempt” by the military. “The President remains in full power,” he assured. “Now, however, there is another problem,” said Father Cosimo. “In the event of the Head of State’s resignation and pending early elections, his office will be temporarily assumed by the President of the Senate, who, however, is not present, having resigned in recent months. In any case, the military itself ordered the dissolution of the Senate,” explains the missionary. “As one can see, an institutional vacuum has emerged that the various political parties will now try to fill,” says Father Cosimo. “I believe that Rajoelina is also involved in the negotiations, probably trying, if not to stay in power, then at least to obtain a judicial pass. Once a compromise is found between the political forces, an institutional formula will be found to bring the country to the polls,” the missionary concludes.

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