He won 59% of the vote to defeat his two closest rivals, ousted ex-President Marc Ravalomanana and Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko.<\/p>\n
The election recorded a voter turnout of 46%, considered to be the lowest in the island country’s history.<\/p>\n
The low turnout followed calls for poll boycott by 10 presidential contenders.<\/p>\n
They also withdrew their candidacies over concerns about the credibility of the election and denounced President Rajoelina’s bid for a third term and the validity of his candidacy, given his dual French nationality.<\/p>\n
The constitutional court dismissed their appeals to annul Mr Rajoelina’s candidacy. He also dismissed the accusations and called them a political tactic.<\/p>\n
Despite their withdrawal, the candidates’ names stayed on the ballot. Mr Randrianasoloniaiko gained 14% of the vote and Mr Ravalomanana 12%.<\/p>\n
The constitutional court has nine days to confirm the results announced on Saturday by Madagascar’s electoral body, Ceni.<\/p>\n
The opposition collective that boycotted the election has already declared that it will not recognise the results of the 16 November poll.<\/p>\n
There were six weeks of demonstrations and clashes with police in the build-up to the election, prompting the imposition of a curfew in Antananarivo on the eve of the poll.<\/p>\n
Mr Rajoelina, 49-year-old entrepreneur and former DJ, won a presidential run-off vote against Mr Ravalomanana in 2018, after neither of them obtained more than 50% of the vote as required to be declared president in the first round.<\/p>\n
He had ousted Mr Ravalomanana in a 2009 coup that was backed by the army.<\/p>\n
He faces the tough task of creating jobs and improving the economy, in a country where 75% of people live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.<\/p>\n
He is also expected to bring political stability to a country that has been rocked by years of political turbulence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Madagascar’s incumbent President Andry Rajoelina has won a third term, following a disputed election boycotted by the opposition and its supporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":36624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,15],"tags":[7,26,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-36627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-politics","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n