He denies having broken the unity of the opposition. Former judoka Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko entered the campaign to take on the outgoing Malagasy president, Andry Rajoelina, leaving the ten other candidates of the “collective of 11” to continue alone their boycott of an election they consider biased and a foregone conclusion. . Sunday October 22, candidate No. 13 held his first meeting in Vohémar, in the north of the island, where the collapse of the vanilla sector has ruined thousands of planters.
“It wasn’t a secret. I had warned that I would not let Andry Rajoelina go alone to the election, explains to Le Monde the former athlete known to be close to the Russians. We do not have confidence in the institutions that organize the vote [the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) and the High Constitutional Court (HCC)], but history shows that those who do not participate always end up losing. I do not have a choice. » “Siteny”, as the Malagasy call it, nevertheless maintains its support for the demands of the “11”, including the postponement of the election.
The vote, the opposition believes, relying on the Constitution, cannot be held if one of the candidates is prevented. However, one of them is still in remission in Mauritius. Seriously injured in the right eye by tear gas from the police during a march on October 2, Andry Raobelina was evacuated and then operated. Doctors banned him from flying for thirty days. On Monday, his lawyers filed a new request with the HCC to recognize a “force majeure” situation related to their client’s health and postpone the election again.
Large financial resources
Scheduled for November 16, “the first round was postponed by only one week, it’s a joke,” believes “Siteny”. But the ex-judoka was not always so critical of the authorities. If he says he is “betrayed, like all Malagasy people, by unkept promises”, it is under the banner of the IRD presidential majority that the deputy for Tuléar, the town where he comes from, was re-elected in 2019 after having turned his back on the party of former president Hery Rajaonarimampianina, with which he was affiliated.
In Madagascar, the ex-judoka with an imposing appearance is above all known for the positions he holds in national and international sporting bodies. President of the Malagasy Olympic Committee, he is also head of the African Judo Union and vice-president of the International Judo Federation (IFJ). A position where he became friends with the Romanian Marius Vizer, president of the IFJ and close to Vladimir Putin – himself an accomplished judoka and ambassador of the IFJ until his suspension at the start of the war in Ukraine.
These associations have led to the Malagasy candidate being suspected of covert financing by Russia. Accusations which he denies, without clarifying the origin of the funds injected into his campaign. Because with Andry Rajoelina, “Siteny” is certainly the candidate who has the most significant financial means, in particular to travel by helicopter across a country devoid of roads.
As early as January, and well before the announcement of his candidacy, he had embarked on a “mihava tour” (“listening to the people”, in Malagasy) to collect the grievances of the population and build a program which a large place for decentralization. “I have no political ties to Russia,” he says. My money comes from my business, my family and those who trust me in Madagascar and abroad. » In addition to the creation of the British school of Madagascar, Siteny has also developed activities in the field of communication and real estate.
Strike notice
In the immediate future, the solo departure of “Siteny” does not seem to undermine the determination of the rest of the opposition, which includes two former heads of state, Marc Ravalomanana and Hery Rajaonarimampianina. After bringing together some 50,000 supporters on Saturday at the Antsonjombe coliseum in Antananarivo, the collective resumed its peaceful marches in the capital on Monday, like almost every day since the official launch of the campaign on October 10. Gatherings are also organized in the provinces.
“The electoral environment has not changed. The conditions are not met for a clean election,” notes Hajo Andrianainarivelo, president and candidate of the MMM party. The collective calls for the establishment of impartial electoral institutions, the annulment of the HCC decision entrusting interim power to Prime Minister Christian Ntsay and the disqualification of the candidacy of Andry Rajoelina due to his French nationality acquired in 2014 by naturalization.
Fearing that the situation will degenerate, the Madagascar Union Solidarity platform, which brings together 86 organizations from the public, private and informal sectors, threatens to block the country’s administration if the outgoing president and the twelve candidates do not get involved a table to find a political solution to the crisis. A strike notice has been given for October 26.