2009 Malagasy political crisis : Ask Biography

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The 2009 Malagasy political crisis involved a series of anti-government demonstrations in Madagascar in early 2009, culminating in military involvement and the accession of opposition leader Andry Rajoelina to the Presidency. The protests began in January 2009 and were aimed at the government of President Marc Ravalomanana. The protests, which turned violent, were organized and spearheaded by Rajoelina, who was the mayor of the capital city of Antananarivo and a prominent opponent of President Ravalomanana. At least 130 people were killed in Madagascar during the crisis.

The protests were seen as the gravest challenge faced by the Ravalomanana government since he came to office in 2002. President Ravalomanana vowed to restore order "whatever the cost", according to a government statement, while opposition leader Rajoelina called for the dissolution of the government and the formation of a transitional government under his leadership.

On 16 March 2009, one of the palaces of President Ravalomanana, the Ambohitsorohitra Palace, was stormed and taken by soldiers of the Malagasy Army. The president was not in the stormed palace at the time. The African Union condemned the action, calling it an "attempted coup d'etat". Rajoelina insisted that the palace seizure was not a coup, although he immediately installed himself in the presidential offices of the captured palace.

Ravalomanana had already moved out of the Iavoloha palace to an undisclosed location. The military junta, consisting of senior military personnel, would have been charged with organizing elections within 24 months and re-writing the constitution for the "Fourth Republic". However, Vice Admiral Ramaroson announced on 18 March that it would transfer power directly to Rajoelina, making him president of the opposition-dominated High Transitional Authority that he had appointed weeks earlier. Madagascar's constitutional court deemed the transfer of power, from Ravalomanana to the military board and then to Rajoelina, to be legal.

According to Rajoelina's Prime Minister Monja Roindefo, the transfer of power was not a coup d'état but instead "the direct expression of democracy, when representative democracy does not express itself through the institutions". Rajoelina was officially sworn in on 21 March before a crowd of 40,000 supporters.

On the same day, Malagasy navy troops called for Rajoelina's resignation by 25 March 2009, threatening to use force otherwise to protect the constitution of Madagascar.