In a contentious turn of events, documents suggesting that Madagascar’s President, Andry Rajoelina, holds dual French nationality have caused waves of discontent on the Indian Ocean island. Madagascar’s law stipulates that acquiring citizenship from a foreign nation results in automatic forfeiture of Malagasy nationality. Accusations of opacity have besieged Rajoelina since these documents, asserting his naturalisation by then French Prime Minister Manuel Valls in November 2014, emerged on social media this week.
As the document, signed by the interior minister and published in the Official Journal, circulates online, the president has been urged to shed light on the issue. “The functions of a president of the republic can only fall to a citizen of Malagasy nationality,” declared Hajo Andrianainarivelo, leader of the opposition Malagasy Miara Miainga party, referencing article 46 of Madagascar’s constitution.
The party has called on Rajoelina to address “this topic that offends the sovereignty of the Madagascan people, who have been betrayed”.
Similarly, Rivo Rakotovao, leader of the HVM party, has decried the President’s supposed dual nationality as “treason” and a “moral fault”.
“The most alarming issue is that he lied. In becoming French, he pledged allegiance to another country. What credibility does he have to defend Madagascar?” Rakotovao said.
In response, the President’s chief of staff, Romy Voos Andrianarisoa, dismissed the document leak as a blatant “political move”, adding that Rajoelina was born to Malagasy parents. “He is Malagasy,” Andrianarisoa stated, arguing that many Madagascans are dual nationals and carry out their political roles without issue.
Andrianarisoa contested the notion that acquiring foreign nationality results in the immediate loss of Malagasy nationality. “This loss must be formally noted by an authority,” she pointed out.
What’s next for Andry Rajoelina?
Rumours suggest that Rajoelina’s French citizenship was a quid pro quo for his temporary withdrawal from Madagascar’s political crisis in 2013. This raises the legal question: Can Andry Rajoelina still serve as the Malagasy head of state under the current law? Or, as The Madagascar Tribune pondered, can he be the “French President of the Republic of Madagascar”?
Under Article 46 of the Constitution, any candidate in the 2018 presidential elections must have proven Malagasy nationality, which puts Rajoelina’s eligibility under scrutiny. The nationality code, under Article 42, states: “Loses Malagasy nationality, the adult Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality” – a category into which the President, 40 at the time of his naturalisation, may fall.
As these revelations have unfolded, Rajoelina’s allies have launched a counter-offensive to defuse this potential political timebomb before the upcoming presidential election in November.
Amid calls for an investigation and potential dismissal procedure, France’s exiled opponent, Fanirisoa Ernaivo, has announced plans to file a complaint with the court of first instance of Antananarivo to rule on the unprecedented case of the head of state’s foreignness. The former head of Madagascar’s judiciary, who now leads the Association for Development and Democracy in Madagascar, has also called for foreign governments and international financial institutions to suspend “any new commitment until the status of Mr Rajoelina has been decided”.
Image Credit: Adrian Dennis/Pool Photo via AP File
