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Madagascar: Presidential election results trickling in – no outright winner expected, second round of polls seen
Madagascar votes. PHOTO/AFP
Results trickled in from Madagascar’s presidential election on Saturday, though it was too early to identify a dominant candidate in the vote that many hope will save a cash-starved economy left crippled by a coup.
A credible poll would be an important step towards luring back investors both local and foreign who were scared off when mutinous troops swept former disc jockey Andry Rajoelina to power in the Indian Ocean island in 2009.
Around 18 hours after voting ended, the electoral commission (CENIT) had released provisional results from just 117 out of more than 20,000 polling stations, indicating the huge logistical task it faces on one of the world’s largest islands.
“Things will start moving faster,” said Jean Victor Rasolonjatovo, executive secretary of the CENIT, which has until November 8 to release complete provisional results.
Madagascar’s ‘L’Express’ newspaper ran the headline “Indecisive Battle”.
The numbers showed early leads for two of the most fancied candidates, Jean Louis Robinson, a close political ally of the president ousted in 2009, Marc Ravalomanana, and Hery Rajaonarimampianina, a former finance minister under Rajoelina.
But it was too early to draw any concrete trends from the partial results, which accounted for less than 1 percent of total registered voters on the island-nation, famed for its lemurs and eyed by foreign firms for its minerals.
