After some attempts of conquest by the Portuguese, Dutch and English, in the 17th century. Madagascar entered the range of action of France. The great reigns of King Andrianampoinimerina (1787-1810) and Queen Ranavalona I (1828-61) ensured substantial unity and strength to the island to keep the invasion of France at a distance, which however tried to gain ground by exploiting the contrasts intertribal: in 1885 the protectorate was proclaimed and in 1896 Madagascar became a colony. The ‘indigenous policy’ of Governor J.-S. Gallieni (1896-1905) left some autonomy to the tribal communities, but in 1915 there were the first independence requests. During the Second World War, Great Britain occupied the naval bases of the island and at the end of the conflict France regained control of the colony, until in March 1947 an insurrection broke out coordinated by the Mouvement Démocratique pour la Rénovation Malgache (MDRM). Paris severely repressed the uprising (the death toll ranges from 10,000 to 80,000) and beheaded the resistance movement. The political struggle then resumed in the context of the decolonization of French western and equatorial Africa. In the referendum of 1958 for the choice between immediate independence and joining the Franco-African Community, Madagascar voted for the latter.
According to THEDRESSWIZARD, independence was achieved on June 26, 1960. For over a decade the government remained in the hands of the Parti Social-Démocrate (PSD), chaired in a personal and authoritarian manner by P. Tsiranana . The end of the Tsiranana regime (1972), after long and bloody mass demonstrations, brought the military to power, which in 1975 found their strongman in D. Ratsiraka . Assuming the role of “liberator”, Ratsiraka demanded the closure of the French bases, turned for aid to the USSR, theorized an egalitarian socialism. His party (AREMA, Avant-garde de la Révolution Malgache) constituted a National Front for the defense of the revolution, with the organizations considered progressive. Over time, however, the Ratsiraka government fell under French influence. Re-elected president in 1982 and 1989, in 1990-91 Ratsiraka was forced by a popular uprising to accept a new Constitution (1992).
In 1993 A. Zafy, leader of a democratic coalition called Comité des forces vives, was elected president, but the fragmentation of political forces and the profound conflicts within the majority coalition were a source of continuous instability and Zafy was progressively isolated, until his dismissal in 1997. Surprisingly, the elections were won by former president Ratsiraka, who promoted a reform of the state which provided, together with regional decentralization, a strengthening of executive powers and abolished the possibility of Parliament to dismiss the president of the Republic. In 1999 against Ratsiraka, Madagascar Ravalomanana took the field, who in the 2001 presidential elections proclaimed himself the winner before the official communication of the Constitutional Court, triggering a serious institutional crisis, accompanied by episodes of civil war until the Constitutional Court proclaimed Ravalomanana the winner and Ratsiraka fled the country. Ravalomanana, who received a second mandate at the end of 2006, promoted economic reforms, obtaining US aid in addition to debt relief from the International Monetary Fund between 2004 and 2005; however, after the approval of a constitutional reform strengthening presidential powers in 2007, he was accused of authoritarian propensities by the opposition, which, led by the mayor of Antanarivo, A. Rajoelina, took to the streets again in 2009, giving rise to violent clashes. Ravalomanana was forced to resign and the military assigned the post of president to Rajoelina, who has since remained in office without the recognition of either the other political forces or the international community.The first round of the presidential consultations, postponed several times and finally held in October 2013, highlighted an extremely fragmented political framework, identifying among the candidates the two challengers J.-L. Robinson (supported by the former head of state Ravalomanana, who obtained 24% of the preferences) and H. Rajaonarimampianina (candidate supported by President Rajoelina, who earned 15.93% of the preferences), who imposed himself by measure in the second round held in the following December, obtaining the 53, 5% of the votes. In April 2016, Rajaonarimampianina appointed O. Solonandrasana, a member of the party Hery vaovao ho an’i Madagasikara, premier, who took over from J. Ravelonarivo, who resigned due to conflicts with the president. In the first round of the presidential consultations held in November 2018, the former president Rajoelina won with 39.1% of the votes on the other former president Ravalomanana (35.2%), who he defeated in the ballot held the following month, obtaining the 55.6% of the votes and taking over from Rajaonarimampianina.
