General Elections – The first wave of results is in

The first wave of results from the capital city predicts a landslide victory for the pro-Ravalomanana coalition. This could be explained by the militants? willingness to confirm their need for a change.

Nonetheless, great uncertainties still remain. As of 7 PM GMT, only a handful of voting precincts have sent in their results. Provincial results are still up in the air. In Toamasina, former dictator Didier Ratsiraka?s stronghold, TIM and AREMA candidates are running neck and neck.

The Minister of the Interior thinks that overall results from the capital city can be finalized as early as tomorrow, and within ten days for the rest of the country. This brand of urgency was mandated by the government who practically moved heaven and earth – internet, radio, helicopters – to make it happen. The bet is on, and everything is in place for a win. It should be noted that there are over 17,000 voting precincts for 6 million registered voters out of a population of 15 million.

Earlier on, it was anticipated that voter participation would be low. So far, however, the capital city?s results seem to point to participation rates which could be much higher than those of the most recent general elections (around 70%).

As to the voting process itself, we can confirm that there has not been any major problem. The few complaints which have been addressed by the National Election Council in charge of overseeing the elections include issues such as lack of ballots, lack of observers… All in all, we have not found anything which could be detrimental to the election process.