Madagascar’s embattled President Andry Rajoelina has issued a decree dissolving the National Assembly as he bids to avert a slide from power.
Rajoelina, who has fled the country, issued the decree on social media on Tuesday, ahead of a planned impeachment vote. However, with parts of the military and the police offering support to mass protests calling for his resignation, his efforts to cling to power threaten to send the island nation’s political crisis spiralling into chaos.
The decree to dissolve the assembly “shall enter into force immediately upon its publication by radio and/or television broadcast,” the presidency said in a statement published on Facebook.
Rajoelina, whose current whereabouts are unknown, defended the move in a separate social media post as necessary to “restore order within our nation and strengthen democracy”.
But opposition leader Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko – who had been planning a vote to impeach Rajoelina on Tuesday – said the decree was “not legally valid”, because the president of the National Assembly, Justin Tokely, was not consulted over the move.
President in hiding
Rajoelina, a former mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, said in a speech broadcast on social media on Monday night that he had left the country in fear for his life and was sheltering in a “safe space”.
A military source told the Reuters news agency that Rajoelina left the country on Sunday on board a French army aircraft, although President Emmanuel Macron refused to confirm that his government had played a role.
Rajoelina’s departure came after army units defected on Saturday, with the president condemning the move as “an attempt to seize power illegally and by force”.
Hours after his comments, the army’s elite CAPSAT unit, which played a key role in the 2009 coup that first brought Rajoelina to power, said it had taken control of the country’s military.
It had earlier announced that it would “refuse orders to shoot” demonstrators.
Police back protesters
On Tuesday, a privately owned news website in Madagascar, 2424.mg, reported that the police had also joined the military and gendarmerie in backing the demonstrations.
Led by Gen Z groups, the antigovernment protests over water and power outages began on September 25. However, they soon expanded to encompass wider grievances over the cost of living, poverty and alleged government corruption, fuelling widespread calls for Rajoelina’s resignation.
The president’s attempt to shut down the parliament made clear that he remains adamant that he will not meet the demand.
The 51-year-old said he was “on a mission to find solutions” to the political crisis and would not let the impoverished nation “destroy itself”.
That saw thousands gather in the capital once more to protest on Tuesday, with civil servants and trade unionists also joining the crowd.
‘Reformist’
Positioning himself as a reformist, Rajoelina led a transitional government until 2014, stepping aside to restore constitutional order. He returned after winning the 2019 election and secured a second full term in 2023.
The United Nations says at least 22 people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the demonstrations began, although the government disputes these figures.
One CAPSAT soldier died in clashes with the gendarmerie on Saturday, before a widespread move by the country’s security forces towards support for the demonstrations.
The protests have exposed deep frustration in one of the world’s poorest nations, where only a third of the population has access to electricity and blackouts routinely exceed eight hours a day.
The Gen Z Madagascar movement has drawn inspiration from recent uprisings that have challenged governments in several countries, including Kenya, Indonesia and Peru.
Such youth-led demonstrations in South Asia have unseated governments in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Gen Z Madagascar has refused government offers for dialogue, despite repeated outreach efforts by Rajoelina’s administration.
