Madagascar gets new President

Hery Rajaonarimampianina, ex-finance minister in the outgoing president Andry Rajoelina government has won the presidential run-off election defeating his rival Jean Louis Robinson by 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent votes.
 

Key Points:

• He was backed by the incumbent president Andry Rajoelina who grabbed the power in army-supported coup in 2008 having ousted elected candidate Marc Ravalomanana.
• The rival candidate Jean Louis Robinson was a former health minister in ousted President Marc Ravalomanana’s government.
• International observers expressed reasonable satisfaction with the electoral process though the opposition has alleged election fraud.

The Disastrous Coup:

• The coup spelled doom for the economy of this impoverished nation as international donors slashed aids, which had previously accounted for 40% of the government’s budget, and foreign investments dried up.
• It plunges the country into economic disaster pushing almost nine of every 10 people in the country of 22 million into penury. 
• 90% of the population is forced to live on less than $2 a day as per the figures of World Bank.
• The crippled economy forced the government to further curb services including education, water and health care, deepening poverty. 

Catalyst for election:

• The crisis in Madagascar has cost the economy, which relies on mainly tourism, agriculture, and mining.
• The return to democratic set-up is meant to end a crisis that has driven out investors, cut aid flows and sharply plunged the economy rendering many in penury.

About the Country:

• Madagascar is an island country in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeast Africa.
• It is the fourth-largest island in the world after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo (Indonesia).
• Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90 percent of its wildlife is found nowhere else on the earth.
• Area: 587,041 square km (47th largest in the world)
• Population (2012 estimate): 22 million (53rd largest in the world)
• Capital and largest city: Antananarivo
• First president: Philibert Tsiranana (1960–72)