Deposed Antananarivo Mayor AndryRajoelina is expected to occupy the official administrative center of thepresidency Tuesday after ordering the arrest of President Marc Ravalomana. Some political analysts say the oppositionleader's move to take over the official presidential office could force thepresident to resign with two more years left for his term to expire.
Rajoelinaordered the arrest of President Ravalomanana after some army troops seized thepresidential palace in the center of the capital, Antananarivo Monday evening.
The national armywhich had previously declared itself neutral in the ongoing political crisisbetween the president and the opposition leader backed the opposition leaderafter refusing to take any more orders from the government. But the governmenthas dismissed the opposition's action as a coup d'état, which it said wasunconstitutional.
Monja Roindefo is theopposition named prime minister. He tells reporter Peter Clottey that theopposition leader Rajoelina is set to become Madagascar's next presidentTuesday.
"So, today the President(Rajoelina) will make his first step obviously to the presidential palace ofAmbuitoreta today to officialize the democratically step that we have advocatedup to now and to represent the transitional authority. So, although it is agreat day for us we are sad that after the seventh of February that a lot ofpeople were killed by Mr. Ravalomanana. The army has secured the presidentialpalace to install the transitional authority," said Roindefo.
He denied the opposition'smove to forcibly take over power from the constitutionally elected president isillegal.
"Mr. Ravalomanana who haskilled hundreds of people in front of the world, he has performed that act andwith all the infringement he has committed against the constitution, he is theone who has committed the illegal act. He did not violate the constitution oneor two times, but several times and there is lack of democracy and the lack ofthe market law or the free market competition and the lack of freedom. So,those people who are saying Ravalomanana has to be defended rather than thepeople quest for democracy are those people who want to benefit from theMalagasy wealth illegally with Ravalomanana," he said.
Roindefo accused theembattled president of committing a crime after opposition protesters were shotand killed while demanding the resignation of Ravalomanana in the capital,Antananarivo.
"You know that we are livingin the year 2009 and I don't think any president has done what Ravalomanana hasdone to kill his own people in cold blood. He has killed the peacefuldemonstrators on the seventh of February. So for us, Ravalomanana is not the president of the Malagasy peopleafter he killed those people," Roindefo pointed out.
He said the oppositionintends to restore what he described as the diminished democratic tenetsorchestrated by Ravalomanana.
"What we are doing now is toreinstate the democracy here in Madagascar. To restore the regulation and tolay down the principles for a genuine democracy and a genuine development ofMadagascar," he said.
Roindefo said the embattledRavalomanana would be prosecuted after he is detained.
"It is not what I will bedoing to him and it is not what Rajoelina will be doing to him. He hascommitted a crime against the nation, so it is up to the nation's court to judgehim. It is not up to me or Andry," Roindefo noted.
Meanwhile, the African Union Peace and Security has sharplycondemned the opposition's move to oust embattled President Ravalomanadescribing it as a coup d'état. This shortly followedopposition leader Andry Rajoelina's call for the immediate detention of theconstitutionally elected President Ravalomanana during a rally in the capitalAntananarivo late Monday.
The African body called onall Malagasies to refrain from any hostility urging them to respect thecountry's constitution.
The European Union alsowarned it would reject anybody who forcibly take over power in Madagascar andsaid it would take the same steps it took after a military coup in Mauritania.The EU froze development aid to the Mauritania when mutinous soldiers seizedpower there after ousting the constitutionally elected president.
The opposition leader hadearlier rejected Ravalomanana's offer to hold a referendum tosolve the political stand-off which began in January and led to the loss oflives and property, which began in January.
Political analystsagree that opposition leader Rajoelina has tapped into widespread public discontent,especially with high levels of poverty among many inhabitants who are said tobe fed up with the escalating political stalemate.