General

Presidential and legislative elections amid tense political climate, civic space violations

Controversial presidential elections were held on 16th November 2023, amid low voter turnout and an opposition boycott, in which incumbent president Andry Rajoelina was re-elected for another term in the first round of elections. Ten out of 13 candidates, cleared to run in the elections, called on voters to boycott the elections. The so-called ‘Collectif des 10’ (Collective of 10), the ten opposition candidates boycotting the elections, held unauthorised street protests almost on a daily basis in Antananarivo in the weeks leading up to the elections, several of which were met with tear gas, batons and arbitrary arrests of protesters and bystanders.

Opposition claim that Andry Rajoelina is not eligible to run for president as he acquired French citizenship in 2014, which they say would automatically revoke his Malagasy nationality while also creating unfair electoral conditions.

Ahead of the official campaign period, authorities restricted civic space, including the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. On 1st April 2023, authorities had already announced a blanket ban on political demonstrations in public places, mandating they could only take place in “enclosed spaces”.

While the voter turnout was historically low - 43.8 percent – the CSO Observatoire SAFIDY, who deployed 5,000 electoral observers in the country’s 23 regions, noted a “proliferation of bad electoral...

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