Election campaign in Madagascar ends peacefully

Presidential election campaign in Madagascar closed peacefully on Friday with signs showing that ruling President Marc Ravalomanana gaining an upper hand during the campaign, which kicked off on November 12.

Improvement of living standards and a smooth transition of political institutions have become the main campaign issues as Madagascar edges closer to D-Day on Sunday.

During the campaign, President Marc Ravalomanana asked 6.9 million voters to give him another five years to fulfill his dream of building a better and more prosperous nation with a population of 17.5 million.

A total of 14 candidates, including Marc Ravalomanana and Elia Ravelomanantsoa, the only female candidate who campaigned on a " national" ticket, contested the eighth presidential polls since independence of the Indian Ocean island in 1960.

Other challengers include Pierrot Rajaonarivelo of the Association of the Rebirth of Madagascar (AREMA) party; former speaker of the National Assembly, Jean Lahiniriko; former church minister, Richard Andriamanjato; and Roland Ratsiraka, mayor of the port city of Toamasina and nephew to former president, Didier Ratsiraka. AREMA is the former party of Didier Ratsiraka.

The president is elected by direct popular vote for a five-year term and the country's electoral system provides for the conduct of a run-off in the event that there is no clear winner from the first round.

Initial campaigning was disrupted by a military coup on November 17, but the takeover bid was soon foiled after other army officers refused to join the renegade army officer, General Andrianafidisoa.

The economy is a key campaign issue, with most candidates promising the electorate a better and more prosperous future once they accede to power.

The opposition is using a recent spate of fuel and rice price increases to blame Ravalomanana for hardships faced by the poor. Inflation has risen from 8.7 percent at the end of 2000 to 30 percent in September.

However, the incumbent president has, since coming to power in 2002, managed to stabilize the economy and won the confidence of major multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

With an economy largely dependent on agriculture -- which along with fishing and forestry contributes at least 25 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) -- the island also produces coffee, cassava, bananas, maize, sugar cane, potatoes and rice.

Mining and tourism sectors have shown signs of recovery and the government has projected increases in mineral exports from about 100 million U.S. dollars to 150 million dollars per year over the next 10 years.

The biggest boost to the Malagasy economy has been the potential discovery of oil which has recently triggered a scramble by international oil conglomerates.

Initial projections are that the country could produce 60,000 barrels per day in three to four years. With potential revenue of billions of dollars, this oil boom could make the industry the biggest contributor to GDP.

Source: Xinhua

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