Jean Lahiniriko removed as President of the National Asssembly

No doubt a last ditch effort on his part. The President of the Assembly was relieved of his duties during an evening pleniary session on the night of May 8th, though the man in the speaker’s chair has refused to recognize the outcome of the vote. Jean Lahiniriko, removed as party president, then removed as president of the lower house, is refusing to leave the speaker’s chair. The newspaper the Midi writes, ” 5 days after the motion of dismissal, Lahiniriko has finally been voted out of the speaker’s chair by 119 deputies…6 voting against the motion with 8 abstentions…there were 133 deputies taking part in the vote. Before it came to this several steps were taken. At roughly 9:30 AM Lahiniriko arrived at his office. At 10 AM the HCC received the first letter from the now ex- president of the Assembly asking his advice on how to poll the members. They waited for his answer…at almost 2PM the executive committee (BP) gathered at the call of the vice president. They drew up a list of grievances ( P-V) noting the absence of Lahiniriko and his supporters. At the same time they decided to convene a plenary session for 4PM. At 3 PM Lahiniriko left the palace. His supporters followed him. It was not possible to convene the meeting until almost 5:30 PM. ” Opines the Express of Madagascar the “war of sucession has begun.”