2009 Malagasy political crisis

Protests in Madagascar, January 2009

Date	26 January – 7 November 2009 (9 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Location	Madagascar
Result	Resignation of President Ravalomanana Installation of Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina as President of the High Transitional Authority

Casualties and losses

135 killed

The 2009 Malagasy political crisis began on 26 January 2009 with the political opposition movement led by Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina, which sought to oust President Marc Ravalomanana from the presidency. The crisis reached its climax on 21 March 2009 when Andry Rajoelina was declared the president of the High Transitional Authority of Madagascar, five days after Ravalomanana transferred his power to a military council and fled to South Africa.

The international community immediately condemned the leader and his ascension as unconstitutional: Financial support and foreign investments stopped and the country fell into one of the worst economic crises in its history. The SADC and the African Union have been designated to supervise Madagascar's political reinstatement.

Though the objective of the transitional government was to run presidential elections as soon as possible to relieve the tensions (despite regular delays), its major challenge has been to establish an agreement among Madagascar's four key political factions (Rajoelina, Ravalomanana, Zafy and Ratsiraka), some of which were and still are unfriendly to the transitional government. On 11 December 2010 a new constitution was formally approved, launching the Fourth Republic. On 28 October 2011 a consensus Prime Minister, Omer Beriziky, was appointed. Presidential and parliamentary elections were scheduled for 8 May and 3 July 2013.

In December 2007, Andry Rajoelina was elected mayor of Antananarivo. Tensions quickly grew between president Ravalomanana and the young mayor over the course of 2008 as Rajoelina became a vocal critic of a series of unpopular policies enacted by the president. He condemned what he called the "restriction of freedom" on the island, and criticized the president's plans to lease large parts of land to the Korean industrial company Daewoo.

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