Ups and downs for the presidential party

The partisans of Roland Ratsiraka, even after the publication of the results, are reassured.  The nephew of President Ratsiraka was indeed re-elected mayor in the harbour city of Toamasina whereas, a few months before, he was suspended for bad management and replaced by a “President of Special Delegation”, temporarily occupying the function of mayor.  With a score without call, Roland Ratsiraka, by obtaining 58% of the votes against 38% for his principal competitor of presidential party TIM, is again first magistrate of the supposed city stronghold of Didier Ratsiraka at the strong time of the political crisis of 2002. 

Hard blow thus for President Ravalomanana’s party which, despite this, remains the greatest winner of the communal elections, in rural as well as urban environments.  The TIM, indeed, got more than 50% of votes in the rural communes and, in same time, obtains in the large cities a crushing majority of the voices. 

Without too much surprise, the province of Antananarivo remains the stronghold of the presidential party.  Out of the six urban communes that account for the province, six TIM candidates were elected. In the capital, the official results give 80% of votes to the candidate Patrick Ramiaramanana, in spite of a rather low rate of participation.