The party of Madagascar’s president overwhelmingly won last month’s senatorial elections held six years after the upper house of parliament was dissolved because of a coup, the electoral commission said.
According to preliminary results published on January 9, President Hery Rajaonarimampianina’s HVM party won more than 60 per cent of the vote in each of the country’s seven provinces.
Despite concerns raised by the opposition and observers, the electoral commission on Saturday told the press that it had accomplished its mission of holding a successful vote.
The results have now been forwarded to the country’s constitutional court to determine the number of seats awarded to each party.
The upper chamber was dissolved after Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina ousted President Marc Ravalomanana in the 2009 coup, ushering in years of turmoil in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Mr Rajoelina headed up a “transitional” regime until finally a presidential election was held in 2013, won by Hery Rajaonarimampianina and deemed free and fair.
With the senate in place, the president will be able to dissolve the lower house national assembly and call snap polls.
