The HVM party and its opponents: the next black sheep of the Parliament

The unexpected no longer happens to be too surprising as a matter of fact. The newly created presidential party is going uphill in its quest for a first ever victory at the communal elections. The HVM (Hery Vaovao ho an’i Madagasikara) party actually has a very ambitious deployment strategy at every level of the pyramid of powers. For instance, the presidential party created as recently as the end of May 2014 tackled its quest against all odds with the foundation of a parliamentarian group of its own, though formally having no deputy to rely on. This new group’s first members are independent deputies who already joined the Presidential Majority’s ranks.
A ruling party enlisting elected figures
The presidential party’s rise in general and more particularly its inroad inside the National Assembly do keep on intensely annoying the MAPAR group. “Such an enforcement has no end, though being completely illegal, yet no one seems to care” roared a Rajoelina supportive deputy. However, the presidential party’s led tactical self insertion in the Parliament without a single proper representative in is strategically speaking, potentially likely to weaken the presidential majority the President had to fight with difficulty for. The law dictates that a deputy is not allowed to swear allegiance to a parliamentarian group other than its own during his mandate. Still, every parliamentarian is allowed to support whoever it wants whenever it wants and vice versa. When entering the Parliament this way, President Rajaonarimampianina dropped what he used to hold as his main asset, namely the fact of being a leader with no political party to be answerable to.
This explosion of the Presidential Majority dangerously deprives Kolo Roger’s government of a much needed shield against pending motions of no confidence, even though the onslaught would not be directed against President Rajaonarimampianina. The Prime Minister would eventually be allowed to delay the collapse by taking cover behind concessions to be granted to deputies. Actually, the Prime Minister already has to resort to grant the ransom required by the parliamentarians to avoid the unwanted motion. The Lower Chamber’s deputies find it unfair to have to content with lesser privileges compared to those granted to CT and CST members during the transition. They undecently require no less than tax exemption as well as 8 cylinders 4 wheel drive vehicle, the running symbols of luxury, might and power.
The spiral is nowhere near to end at the Parliament. Buying the deputies loyalty, first and foremost their loyalty to their privileges, certainly raises discontent somewhere else. FRAM teachers already require the President loudly to prove himself true to his word of creating new positions. Students just as so loudly require their unpaid scholarships of the previous year, and the armed forces expect the funds required by the military operation directed at cattle thefts in the South to resume… for instance.
A weak Opposition front
There is no Opposition front yet at the National Assembly. All of the deputies are supportive of the President, and jointly challenge his government in the dispute concerning their privileges. As for the Opposition front’s leadership, its seat is still empty. In spite of this position’s substantial relevance, deputies and parliamentarian groups have expressed no interest. Small scale parties left out of the Parliament and traditional challengers did.
The former presidential candidate Tinasoa Freddy self proclaimed leader of the Opposition. His party OBAMA combined forces with political parties like DHD Madagasikara, Miami Madagasikara, Green Gasikara and Avotra ho an’ny firenena in order to put a larger political face up, challenge the government as loud as possible and put alternatives forward. This alliance passed the everlasting opposition figure Lalatiana Ravololomanana, still busy preparing a conference supposed to provide all of the opposition groups with unity around a single line of conduct, and ultimately with a single leader. Neither she nor her supporters do acknowledge Tinasoa Freddy, whose legitimacy reflected by his performance during the presidential tournament was less than convincing. Jean Louis Robinson should logically be entitled to the leadership, still, his political party NY AVANA has no deputy in the Parliament, and does no longer enjoy the so precious and near decisive alliance with the former Ravalomanana political sphere, now ZANAK I DADA party, which decided to line up with the Presidential Majority.