A false debate that does not affect either its legitimacy or its ability to defend the interests of Madagascar: on Sunday July 16, President Andry Rajoelina spoke for the first time at length on the question of his French nationality. Three hours of interview broadcast on public television and radio channels, without however responding directly to the three journalists who repeatedly questioned him on this point: “Are you French? »
Summoning Barack Obama, of Kenyan origin through his father, Nelson Mandela, honorary citizen of four countries, Manuel Valls, Spaniard and French Prime Minister, and even the Hungarian origins of Nicolas Sarkozy to convince that his situation is in no way singular, the Head of State has minimized the importance of the subject that has inflamed Madagascar since the disclosure, a month ago, of his French naturalization by a decree of November 19, 2014. A subject of which, according to him, “everyone nobody cares 50 km from Antananarivo”.
Andry Rajoelina, however, provided a new explanation, citing family reasons: “I acquired French nationality for the love of my children. To facilitate the pursuit of their studies abroad. French citizenship was also granted to his wife and three children in 2014, removing the difficulty of obtaining visas.
The head of state also maintained that he had obtained French nationality by “filiation”, thanks to his French ancestry through his grandfather. A “right” not a “reward”, he added. A version that contradicts the need for the French government at the time to have had to proceed by naturalization decree in order to satisfy Andry Rajoelina’s request in the context of political negotiations, according to several observers of these events. The former head of the transition regime would have indeed demanded, according to the latter, this guarantee to agree not to stand for the presidential election of 2013, which marked the return of Madagascar to a constitutional order. Andry Rajoelina took over the country in 2009 in a coup d’etat deposing the then president, Marc Ravalomanana.
End load shedding
Andry Rajoelina has, in any event, refuted having sought to conceal his situation and contested the interpretations, according to him erroneous, made of the nationality code by several opposition parties. According to article 42 of the law, Andry Rajaolina would have lost his Malagasy nationality by becoming voluntarily French and, therefore, should not have applied for the supreme magistracy in 2018. A complaint was filed against the head of the State before the Court of First Instance of Antananarivo for “forgery and use of forgery, espionage and attack on the external security of the State” by the Association for the Law and Development of Madagascar, chaired by Fanirisoa Ernaivo, former magistrate and opponent in exile in France.
He was also offended that his dual nationality was used to question his patriotism, in particular in the case of the Scattered Islands, which Madagascar is asking France to return. With Emmanuel Macron, “we speak as equals”, “he does not put pressure on me”, he said while, at the same time, the intervention was broadcast on a screen in which, in August 2019, he had publicly asked before the French president that a solution be found quickly to this old territorial dispute.
Less than four months before the next presidential election, this long interview was also an opportunity to defend his record. Hospitals, schools, stadiums, courts… Andry Rajoelina listed the infrastructure built under his mandate and put the seriousness of the economic and social crisis into perspective. But what his listeners will certainly have remembered above all is his commitment to end load shedding “within three weeks”, when power cuts are a daily concern. This could be akin to a campaign promise, but the head of state refused to reveal his intentions on his future candidacy.
