Madagascar presidential candidate Marc Ravalomanana’s campaign has filed a formal complaint after the electoral commission declared Andry Rajoelina the winner.
Ravalomanana has since the election cried foul of the manner the poll was conducted with his opponent taking an early lead in provisional results.
After Thursday’s announcement of Rajoelina’s victory, Ravalomanana now wants the High Constitutional Court to overturn the result.
The court has nine days to decide whether to confirm the provisional results from the electoral body.
The commission said Rajoelina had won 55.66 percent of the vote compared with 44.34 percent for Ravalomanana with a 48 percent voter turnout.
Ravalomanana has called for countrywide protests on Saturday.
Rajoelina, however, appealed for calm and for acceptance of the result.
“The country no longer needs trouble,” said Rajoelina, who attended the commission’s results announcement on Thursday and spoke afterward.
He also dismissed the notion that there had been fraud.
“We do not cheat, we do not know how to cheat,” Ravalomanana said.
He did not attend the commission announcement and the commission’s head noted his absence.
Later, his campaign team held a press conference and said that they were challenging the results in court, without detailing the irregularities they believe occurred.
“Do not believe that we are giving up. There were frauds. There was a premeditated act,” said Ravalomanana’s campaign director Tsehenoarisoa Rabenja, alleging that the electoral commission “facilitated fraud” in favor of Rajoelina.
The EU observer mission said last week that the runoff election held on Dec. 19 had been calm and that observers had not witnessed fraud.
