‘We have taken power’: Military takes over Madagascar after National Assembly votes to impeach President Rajoelina

Madagascar’s National Assembly on Tuesday (Oct 14) voted to impeach President Andry Rajoelina for desertion of duty. Following this, an elite military unit confirmed that it had taken power in the country. This comes after the president, who was currently in hiding, declared the dissolution of the National Assembly in a bid to block the vote to force him out of office amid unrest in the country. The resolution was passed in the lower house of parliament with 130 votes in favour.

The 51-year-old leader had earlier refused calls to step down and fled the country after weeks of anti-government protests in the island nation led by Gen Z.

“We have taken power,” Colonel Michael Randrianirina, head of the CAPSAT military unit, told AFP in a statement at a government building in the capital. He added that the unit will set up a committee composed of officers in the army, gendarmerie and national police.

CAPSAT also played a key role in the 2009 coup, which brought Rajoelina to power earlier.

“Perhaps in time it will include senior civilian advisers. It is this committee that will carry out the work of the presidency,” Randrianirina added.

“At the same time, after a few days, we will set up a civilian government,” he said.

Randrianirina’s announcement came minutes after the lower house of parliament voted to impeach Rajoelina in a session dismissed by the presidency as “devoid of any legal basis.”

After the president ordered the dissolution of the National Assembly, the leader of the opposition in the country’s parliament said that the move was “not legally valid”.

The protests in Madagascar started on September 25 and was initially sparked by severe water and electricity shortages. However, the movement quickly expanded to include broader frustrations around corruption, poor governance, and the chronic failure of basic public services. The demonstrations are a continuation of such Gen Z-driven movements in several countries like Nepal, Morocco and Bangladesh.

Over the weekend, the protest intensified when mutinous soldiers and security forces joined the demonstrators. The protestors have been demanding that Rajoelina and other government ministers step down.

Last month, the president sacked the entire government in a bid to defuse the situation. Radio France Internationale reported that Rajoelina fled the country aboard a French military plane on the weekend.