Velo Jérôme, elected president of the University of Toamasina

The Doctor in computer science, Velo Jérôme, became the new president of the University of Toamasina after winning, by a wide margin, the December 20 election which was held at the Professional High Institute of Management (ISPG). Actually, he defeated his principal rival, the Dean of the Faculty of Art and Humanities and also the outgoing Vice-President of the university, Jaoreziky, by winning a large number of votes in the Faculty of Law, Management and Economics (DEGS), the Faculty of Art and Humanities and among the university administrative and technical personnel.

The election of the president of the university was performed in a quite unusual way in that it was preceded by some acts of lobbying and distribution of petitions. These actions were undertaken by some associations of the East Coast natives which were aimed at criticizing and disclosing the outgoing president’s bad practices such as power abuse and nepotism. With the election process and result, these associations stated their effort in seeking more transparency paid off.