Madagascar Presidential Election 2018: Rajoelina Takes Early Lead On Friday

The top two candidates contesting Madagascar’s Presidential Election 2018, Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana, have both confidently claimed their victory in a head-to-head run-off, even though only a small percentage of the results have yet been declared. The winning declaration made by both the candidates has raised fears of instability on the Indian Ocean Island which already has a history of coups and unrest.

“Change is coming tomorrow, and today you can say that ‘Papa’ is elected,” Ravalomanana, whose nickname is Papa, told supporters on Wednesday night. “Whatever happens, only one thing counts, we will win.”

Rajoelina, on the other hand, said: “I am sure I’m going to win but we’ll wait for the official results.”

According to a report coming from the Daily Mail, citing partial official results, Rajoelina has taken an early lead in Madagascar’s election count on Friday over his rival Ravalomanana. As of Thursday night when results of 19 percent of polling stations and 2.4 million votes -out of 10 million registered voters- were declared, Rajoelina got 54.85 percent of the votes in his favor while Ravalomanana got 45.15 percent of the votes.

With a turnout of 47 percent, Rajoelina’s early lead was still deemed as inconclusive. After the partial results were out, Ravalomanana said he smells of massive fraud in the election results.

“I have noticed massive fraud. There are electoral cards that are fake,” Ravalomanana told AFP on Thursday at his campaign headquarters in the capital Antananarivo. “If the results follow the rules and take into account our complaints then yes, I agree (with the results), but if they don’t follow the democratic process, no.”

Notably, in the first-round of Madagascar’s Presidential Election 2018 held last month, Rajoelina got 39.23 percent of the votes, while Ravalomanana got 35.35 percent votes.

The complete Madagascar Presidential Election 2018 results are due by January 9.