{"id":98533,"date":"2025-10-14T19:41:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T19:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98533"},"modified":"2025-10-14T19:41:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T19:41:00","slug":"madagascars-president-is-ousted-in-a-military-coup-after-weeks-of-youth-led-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98533","title":{"rendered":"Madagascar\u2019s president is ousted in a military coup after weeks of youth-led protests"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina\u00a0was toppled Tuesday in a military coup\u00a0that capped\u00a0weeks of youth protests\u00a0over poverty, power outages and a lack of opportunity in the Indian Ocean island country.<\/p>\n

Right after parliament voted to impeach\u00a0Rajoelina, who fled the country fearing for his safety, the leader of Madagascar\u2019s elite CAPSAT military unit said the armed forces would form a council made up of officers from the armed forces and gendarmerie, a military unit that polices civilians, and would appoint a prime minister to \u201cquickly\u201d form a civilian government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are taking power,\u201d Col. Michael Randrianirina told reporters in front of a ceremonial presidential palace in the capital, Antananarivo, as protesters\u00a0celebrated the news\u00a0with soldiers. He said the constitution and High Constitutional Court\u2019s powers had been suspended, and that a referendum would be held in two years, though he didn\u2019t go into detail.<\/p>\n

From an undisclosed location after fleeing, Rajoelina issued a decree Tuesday trying to dissolve parliament\u2019s lower house in an apparent attempt to preempt being impeached. But lawmakers ignored it and voted overwhelmingly to end the rule of the 51-year-old leader, who himself came to power as a transitional leader in a military-backed coup in 2009.<\/p>\n

Rajoelina\u2019s office released a statement condemning Randrianirina\u2019s announcement as an \u201cillegal declaration\u201d and \u201ca serious breach of the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Republic of Madagascar cannot be taken hostage by force. The State remains standing,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Madagascar, a sprawling island country off the east coast of southern Africa, is home to about 30 million people. It is the world\u2019s biggest vanilla producer and, because of its geographic isolation, is known for its biodiversity. Since gaining its independence from French colonial rule in 1960, it has struggled to overcome poverty and political instability, including a series of coups.<\/p>\n

Rajoelina\u2019s fall capped weeks of Gen Z-led protests that started over persistent electricity and water outages but snowballed into demonstrations of frustration with the government and Rajoelina\u2019s leadership. Protesters raised a range of issues, including government corruption, access to higher education, the cost of living and poverty, which affects about 75% of Madagascar\u2019s population, according to the World Bank. Although young people led the demonstrations, others also took part, including civic groups and unions.<\/p>\n

The turning point came Saturday, when Randrianirina and CAPSAT troops joined the protests and turned against Rajoelina, which led the president to go into hiding. In a Monday night speech broadcast on social media, Rajoelina said he left the country for a \u201csafe place\u201d in fear for his life.<\/p>\n

The protesters, who have been on the streets for weeks and packing a main square since Saturday, have said they were\u00a0inspired by other Gen Z-led movements\u00a0that toppled leaders in Nepal and Sri Lanka. The young protesters have made clear they don\u2019t have a leader.<\/p>\n

Demonstrators insisted that change is needed in Madagascar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not get a constant supply of electricity and water from the government,\u201d said one protester, Soavololona Faraniaina. \u201cIf Madagascan children are studying in darkness, where will the future of this nation be? Where is the wealthy Madagascar that many countries envied?\u201d<\/p>\n

CAPSAT is the same military unit that turned against the government in 2009 and helped Rajoelina take power. The unit said over the weekend that it was taking charge of all of Madagascar\u2019s armed forces, and new heads of the military and the gendarmerie security forces have been appointed.<\/p>\n

CAPSAT commanders previously denied that they had carried out a coup, and said Madagascar\u2019s people should decide what happens next. But the unit appeared to be in a position of authority in some areas of government decision-making since Saturday, and Rajoelina had called the military\u2019s actions a rebellion against the government and \u201can attempt to seize power illegally and by force.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Madagascar\u2019sMadagascar President Andry Rajoelina\u00a0was toppled Tuesday in a military coup\u00a0that capped\u00a0weeks of youth protests\u00a0over poverty, power outages and a lack of opportunity in the Indian Ocean island country.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7374,117,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-madagascar","category-news","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}