Participation and the poverty of electoral democracy in Madagascar

Richard R. Marcus and Paul Razafindrakoto

Africa Spectrum, 2003, vol. 38, issue 1, 27-48

Abstract: On December 16, 2001, Marc Ravalomanana took the lead over incumbent Didier Ratsiraka in the first round of presidential elections in Madagascar. The vote count brought an electoral crisis. The Ministry of the Interior argued that Ravalomanana won 46% of the vote, while an independent commission saw Ravalomanana as having won 50.5% of the vote, and thus the presidency, in the first round. Hundreds of thousands of Malagasy citizens took to the streets in support of Ravalomanana, leading to a violent five-month conflagration. This paper asks: If a challenger is faced with a highly flawed electoral process and a dearth of constitutional options for rectifying the outcome then is he justified in taking extra-constitutional measures? Where electoral democracy focuses on process to the exclusion of more liberal democratic measures, that process must ultimately produce an indisputable outcome or else the democratization process is in jeopardy.

Date: 2003
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