Washington, DC — Opposition leader Marc Ravalomanana, who claims to have been cheated out of victory in the December presidential poll, told his supporters on Wednesday that he was ready to assume power and announced an inauguration ceremony for Friday. He also said the army had assured him of its neutrality in the current deadlock.
Since early January, large-scale public protests in support of opposition charges of election fraud by the government have been daily occurences in the capital, Antananarivo, and in many cities and towns across the country. The demonstrations have drawn hundreds of thousands into the streets, in a nation with a population of about 15 million people.
Ravalomanana's statement seems to contradict an agreement he made on Tuesday to take part in a second round of elections, originally scheduled for February 24 but later delayed by a month.
The agreement was brokered by Said Djinnit, the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Previous OAU efforts to mediate between the opposition leader and President Ratsiraka failed as the two sides refused to shift from their positions.
Jose Andrianoelison, a presidential adviser, said on Tuesday that President Ratsiraka's supporters could be sure that their representatives at negotiations with Ravalomanana had "accepted nothing that was against the interests of the country".
At a rally on Monday, Ravalomanana told his supporters to prepare for a possible showdown with the government and warned he was ready to seize power if negotiations failed. Nonetheless, both camps have been saying that communication channels remained open.
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The current crisis began a few months ago when Marc Ravalomanana, opposition candidate and mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, accused the government of rigging the December 16 presidential elections, claiming to have won 50% of the vote. A series of protests followed, forcing the issue into the High Constitutional Court which later ruled that Ravalomanana won only 46.2%, against 40.8% for President Ratsiraka. It also decreed that a second round be held on Februray 24.
During a mediation visit to Madagascar last week, OAU Secretary General Amara Essy asked for the second round to be delayed by a month. He told reporters in the Malagasy capital, Antananarivo, that "for the second round, all conditions for transparency and credible guarantees must be put in place."
Ravalomanana initially rejected the proposal but reports say the main sticking point in Tuesday's failed talks was an opposition demand that he be allowed to choose the majority of individuals in a transitional government to govern the country before the second round.
As a result of the current crisis, Madagascar has been crippled by a series of strikes reported to have cost the island's already ailing economy an estimated $14m a day.
Madagascar, which won its independence from France in 1960, is one of the poorest countries in the world. It lies 250 miles off the coast of Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. President Ratsiraka, a former military leader, was elected to office in 1996. His opponent, Marc Ravalomanana, was a wealthy businessman before becoming mayor of Antananarivo.
