Madagascar leader joins campaign

Madagascar’s outgoing President Andry Rajoelina has been aggressive over the recent days while campaigning for his candidate for the runoff election set for December 20.The only time he was unable to attend political rallies since November 29 was when he had to fly to South Africa last Saturday to pay tribute to the late Nelson Mandela.

The leader had disturbing takes less than one week before nearly 7,900,000 voters are expected to elect a new president and deputies next Friday.He used assertive arguments to defend his position while invited at a private-owned TV on Sunday night.The Malagasy nation has its law regarding the presence of any heads of institution at any political meetings. Only they are banned from addressing the crowd,” he claimed.

He added: “There were moments where I really wanted to speak, to take the floor, address the people, and express my opinion. People wanted to hear my voice. But I was obliged to keep silent because of the law,” he stated.The man still believes his popularity has remained intact after a 5-year reign marked by a collapsed economy.Most of the time, people massively gathered in various districts. Once they learnt that I could not address the assistance, they were sad and left the meeting places,” he added.

According to him, his team could easily have won the October 25’s vote if his allies were sufficiently united.Many of our partisans got embarrassed with the numerous candidates of our camp.Many did not vote because they did not know who was the authentic candidate; reason why I had to take a stand to defend the fight for the second round.In effect, the leader of the 2009 popular movement ousting the-then leader Marc Ravalomanana has supported the second top candidate Hery Rajaonarimampianina who was beaten by Dr Robinson Jean Louis backed by deposed president, still exiled in South Africa.

Both two have competed to campaign for their respective proxies in different ways, a situation that has obviously angered Antananarivo.I did a lot when I accepted the rejection of my candidacy to preserve peace in the country,” President Rajoelina reminded.My predecessor, for his part, struggled to campaign for his ally who collected 21 per cent of the votes at the first round.” “As for me, I refrained from appearing during the first round.

But our candidate still got around 16 per cent of the votes.” “I could visit almost all of the districts and I know what people need. What I want to say is time is now for Andry Rajoelina to demonstrate his real force,” the outgoing leader raged.He stressed his clan has always remained powerful even in the capital Antananarivo where people massively voted for the candidate Robinson on October 25.


Source: Daily Nation