Albert Zafy - 1996 Election and Opposition To Ratsiraka

1996 Election and Opposition To Ratsiraka

In his 1996 campaign, Zafy blamed the problems faced by Madagascar during his presidency on his opponents and the International Monetary Fund, and he downplayed the charges against him that had led to his impeachment. Although he had lost much of his support, in the first round of the election, held on November 3, he was able to take second place with 23.39% of the vote, behind Ratsiraka's 36.61%. Zafy received some support in the second round from those who, despite their criticisms of Zafy, felt he was preferable to Ratsiraka, such as Interim President Norbert Ratsirahonana, who had unsuccessfully stood as a candidate in the first round. In the second round, held on December 29, Zafy narrowly lost to Ratsiraka, taking 49.29% of the vote and losing by about 45,000 votes. He later alleged that the High Constitutional Court had switched the numbers for himself and Ratsiraka and said that he had not spoken of that at the time for the sake of peace.

Zafy led an attempt to impeach Ratsiraka in early 1998, accusing him of various charges, including perjury and nepotism; he also accused Ratsiraka of violating the constitution in his moves toward decentralization and the strengthening of the presidency at the expense of the National Assembly's power. The impeachment motion failed in the National Assembly on February 4, 1998 when only 60 deputies voted in favor of it, well short of the necessary 92. Zafy subsequently won a seat in the May 1998 parliamentary election, becoming the oldest deputy in the National Assembly. He also unsuccessfully sought the secession of Antsiranana Province from Madagascar at around the same time.

On August 31, 2001, Zafy announced that he would again run in the December 2001 presidential election. On that occasion, he placed a distant third with about 5% of the vote. Opposition candidate Marc Ravalomanana prevailed in an extended dispute with Ratsiraka over the election results, and Ratsiraka fled into exile.