Accra — Four days after a peace deal for Madagascar was signed in Senegal, a recount of the disputed presidential election results began this week, Monday. The recount was one of the key terms of the agreement between the incumbent Malagasy president, Didier Ratsiraka and his main challenger, Marc Ravalomanana.
On Sunday, the self-proclaimed president, Ravalomanana, renounced his claim to the top job, telling the BBC he was now just the president of his supporters. The opposition leader and mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, had previously declared himself president in February and was sworn in by a sympathetic Supreme Court to popular acclaim in the capital, 'Antananarivo. He believed the final result of the December poll was manipulated to rob him of outright victory.
But, in the Senegalese capital Dakar last Thursday, Ravalomanana and Ratsiraka appeared to make peace. They agreed to a power-sharing deal, leading up to a possible referendum to decide which of them will become president, should the recount prove inconclusive and fail to reveal a clear winner.
On Monday, eight of the nine recently-reinstalled judges of the High Constitutional Court (HCC) set to work to count December's votes again, over four months after the ballot took place. The judges had been relieved of their duties by Ratsiraka just before the poll.
"We count again the votes of each candidate - a big task, but we must do it. Its an independent court and what we say is valuable," the HCC spokesman, Samuel Ralison, told reporters.
Ralison was clearly referring to concerns that ballot papers may have been lost or destroyed since the election which could undermine a proper recount, not to mention the claims of vote rigging and fraud that followed the poll.
Official results from the December vote gave a clear lead to Ravalomanana, but denied him a sufficient majority of votes to avoid a second round run-off against Ratsiraka. Ravalomanana believed he had won over 50% of the vote.
The popular uprising which followed, peaceful for many weeks before turning violent, culminated in a divided Madagascar, with two presidents, two governments and two capitals on the large island, as well as two sets of determined and committed supporters and a split within the initially neutral armed forces.
While Ravalomanana controlled Antananarivo, Ratsiraka moved out of the capital to his stronghold in the eastern port city of Tamatave. The sitting presidents backers, including bands of young men, then imposed a crippling economic embargo on the capital, setting up barricades and starving Antananarivo of fuel and other essential supplies, including food.
A fundamental condition of the peace agreement signed in Dakar, was that the blockade set up by Ratsirakas followers must be dismantled and the violence, on both sides, ended.
However, by the weekend, there was no evidence that this had happened. Ravalomanana seemed to be shoring up support, and consolidating his authority, with the swearing-in of his appointed governor in Fianarantsoa, Madagascars third most important province, where some of the worst violence has occurred. Ratsirakas governor had earlier been deposed.
By Monday, Ratsirakas backers had also failed to lift their barricades, some of them telling journalists that they would do so in their own time. They had earlier destroyed bridges on the road to Antananarivo and are fully aware that any remaining leverage they have on power may disappear completely if they surrender their last bargaining chip - the blockades.
In giving up his claim to the title of president, Ravalomanana was sticking closely to the peace accord. But that may not have pleased his supporters who eagerly awaited their 'leader's return from Dakar. Some of them have accused Ravalomanana of letting them down, after they risked their lives for him and his cause.
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The Malagasy opposition leader has probably emerged stronger after the Dakar peace talks. Though he may have surrendered the position of (self-declared) president, he is now officially the number two state official in Madagascar, second only to Ratsiraka, who remains president for at least the next six months.
The agreement stipulates that Ravalomanana will run the transitional council that will oversee the transition and the national reconciliation government and, if necessary, the referendum that should determine Madagascars new president.
But it appears that, among supporters on both sides, there is still anger and some frustration among the masses at the Senegal deal
It remains to be seen whether Madagascars leaders can reign in their supporters. Their success or failure will determine whether the fragile, but many fear flawed, peace accord hailed in Dakar can really end the crisis that has crippled the economy and left at least 35 people dead.
