Presidential election in Madagascar: night curfew in the capital on the eve of the election
On the eve of the first round of the presidential election, scheduled for Thursday (November 16th) in Madagascar, the authorities imposed a two-day night-time curfew in the capital region. This is an illustration of the tension in the organization of this election, where the outgoing president Andry Rajoelina is running for a 5-year term, but where 10 of the 13 candidates are calling not to vote.
A police officer at a polling station in Antananarivo on December 19, 2018. (Illustrative photo) RIJASOLO / AFP
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With our special correspondent in Antananarivo, Claire Fages
The curfew is imposed from 21 p.m. to 4 a.m. this Wednesday and tomorrow, Thursday, the day of the vote, on the inhabitants of the Antananarivo region. Contacted by RFI, the prefect justified his order by the depredations observed the day before in several neighborhood offices, called "fokontany," and in a polling station in the capital. None of the voting materials were damaged as they had not yet arrived. But the measure illustrates the Malagasy authorities' fear that opponents will disrupt the vote.
Because 10 of the 13 candidates present on the single ballot are boycotting the election, after having boycotted the campaign and demonstrated for weeks against this election, whose regularity they contest. Only the outgoing president Andry Rajoelina, Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko and Sendrison Daniela Raderanirin are seeking the votes of the electorate.
However, the curfew is likely to complicate the counting operations tomorrow evening, civil society points out, because polling stations close at 17 p.m. and it is not certain that the count will be completed in time for the office members to return home before 21 p.m.
Read alsoPresidential election in Madagascar: the tug-of-war intensifies before the first round
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