Hery Rajaonarimampianina has won Madagascar’s first presidential election since a 2009 coup, according to provisional results announced by the country’s electoral commission. But Madagascar’s Special Election Court must rule on the definitive outcome after considering appeals and claims of fraud from rival candidate Jean Louis Robinson.
The court has about 10 days to decide whether to verify the announced results of the Dec. 20 election, according to which Rajaonarimampianina, a former finance minister, won 53.5 percent of the vote, a comfortable seven-point margin over Robinson’s 46.5 percent. The court has already rejected conflicting submissions by both candidates, each seeking to have the other disqualified.
Both local and international observers have so far deemed the election to have been fair and credible, although they don’t absolutely rule out all possibility of fraud.