Keypoints:
- Lawmakers impeach Rajoelina amid protests
- President dismisses vote as ‘null and void’
- Army pledges unity as unrest intensifies
MADAFASCAR’S President Andry Rajoelina has dismissed an impeachment vote by parliament as ‘null and void’, deepening the island nation’s political crisis after weeks of violent protests and military defiance.
Lawmakers in the dissolved National Assembly voted on Tuesday to remove him from office, accusing him of deserting his post and violating the constitution. Within hours, Rajoelina rejected the result, insisting that the vote had no legal effect.
Appearing live on Facebook from what he described as a ‘safe place’, the 51-year-old president vowed to stay in power. ‘There are attempts to seize power by unconstitutional means,’ he warned, a day after claiming that an effort was under way to oust him.
Dissolution decree fails to stop backlash
The impeachment comes barely a day after Rajoelina decreed the dissolution of the National Assembly, saying the order took immediate effect once broadcast on national radio and television.
According to Reuters, opposition lawmakers ignored the decree and convened anyway. Opposition leader Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko told reporters the president had lost all legitimacy. ‘The people have spoken through their representatives,’ he said.
Rajoelina’s move to dissolve parliament was intended to defuse mounting calls for his resignation, but instead fuelled street anger and divided the security forces.
Protesters and soldiers join ranks
Thousands of demonstrators—many of them young—have filled the streets of Antananarivo since late September, decrying corruption, power cuts and economic hardship. Over the weekend, soldiers from the elite CAPSAT unit, which helped topple a government in 2009, sided with the protesters and urged Rajoelina to step down.
The president, a former mayor of the capital who first seized power through a coup sixteen years ago, said he was under threat and had survived attempts on his life.
A senior army general told Reuters that the security forces were ‘working together to maintain order’, even as divisions widen within the ranks.
Legal confusion and rising tension
Legal experts quoted by Le Monde Afrique say the political situation has entered a constitutional grey zone, with both the dissolution and the impeachment under dispute. Opposition figures insist only a transitional administration can restore legitimacy, while Rajoelina’s supporters argue that the Constitutional Court must decide.
‘The president has bought time but not stability,’ an Antananarivo-based analyst told Le Monde Afrique. ‘The protests are no longer about politics alone—they are about a generation demanding accountability.’
With the government fractured and the streets restless, Madagascar faces its gravest political test since 2009. Mediators from regional organisations are reportedly monitoring developments and urging restraint on all sides.
