Pretoria - South Africa has commended Madagascar on holding its elections peacefully, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said on Monday.
“South Africa commends the people of Madagascar for the peaceful manner in which they conducted themselves during the elections. This clearly demonstrated their resolve to craft their own destiny in the quest to find a lasting solution to the many challenges the country faced for the past four years,” said DIRCO in a statement.
Madagascar went to the polls on Friday.
The country was plunged into political crisis in late 2008. In March 2009, Andry Rajoelina replaced Marc Ravalomanana as president with the backing of the military. The takeover was seen as a coup by the international community.
Following Friday’s polls, provisional results will be announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission of Transition (CENIT) 10 days after the voting.
South Africa, as part of the SADC collective, but more as the outgoing member of the SADC Organ Troika, participated fully in the SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM) and deployed a sizable number of observers. This was in line with its obligations to SADC, which participated in the SEOM that was deployed to 17 of the 22 regions of the Republic of Madagascar.
“As a country, we congratulate the Government of Transition, the CENIT, the stakeholders and all the people of Madagascar for the peaceful elections in line with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections. We reiterate the call made by the SEOM for political maturity and calm after the results are fully released,” said DIRCO.
If none of the 33 candidates in the elections win over 50 % of the votes, the two top runners will proceed to a run-off scheduled for December 20. - SAnews.gov.za
