Rajoelina is driving Madagascar into another big political crisis

Andry Rajoelina when he cast his ballot paper during a runoff presidential election in Antananarivo, Madagascar in Dec 2018.

Madagascar’s tumultuous political history has been characterised by several coups. Since independence from France in 1960, there have been four major political crises in 1972, 1991, 2002, 2009. Each of these resulted in a change of regime and constitution. They also caused serious economic crises.