Incumbent Marc Ravalomanana was on Saturday officially declared the winner of Madagascar’s December 3 presidential elections.
”Candidate Ravalomanana Marc is elected the president of the republic, having won more than 50% of the votes,” said Jean Michel Rajaonarivony, the head of the Constitutional Court.
The court ratified the poll results in which Ravalomanana won 54,79% of the votes cast, beating 13 opponents in the first round of voting in the race to the Indian Ocean island’s top seat.
Former parliamentary speaker Jean Lahiniriko came in second place with 11,65%, followed by Roland Ratsiraka, nephew of ex-president Didier Ratsiraka, whom Ravalomanana beat in the last election five years ago, with 10,14%.
Ravalomanana can thus serve a five-year second term. He will also be eligible to run for a third term under the Indian Ocean island’s Constitution.
His rivals had lodged complaints with the court claiming voting irregularities. However, the polls were hailed by election observers.
Apart from isolated incidents, Madagascar’s polls ran smoothly unlike the 2001 contest that plunged the world’s fourth-largest island into political chaos and brought it to the brink of civil war. — Sapa-AFP