Madagascan mayors' leader gets jail term for protest
AFP
ANTANANARIVO — The head of the Association of Madagascar Mayors (AMM) was on Thursday sentenced to a two-month jail term for taking part in a banned demonstration and refusing an order to disperse.
Guy Maxime Ralaiseheno was arrested last week at the gathering in central Antananarivo during which AMM urged that local elections scheduled for December 20 be postponed.
"We called for the polls to be postponed, it was the main idea of our association. It was not to oust the transition," said association vice president Eugene Gregoire referring to the regime of Andry Rajoelina who toppled president Marc Ravalomanana in an army-backed coup in March 2009.
Madagascar, already plagued by a long drawn-out political crisis following the 2009 coup, last Sunday announced the postponement of the December senate and mayoral elections due to "technical and political reasons, to give a chance for talks with the opposition," according to a senior official of the regime.
The decision came as the Indian Ocean island emerged from a crisis sparked by a coup attempt by dissident soldiers who were arrested Saturday, three days after declaring they had taken over power.
A series of elections, including parliamentary and presidential votes set for next year, are part of plans by Madagascan rulers to restore normality.
Rajoelina, the 36-year-old former mayor of Antananarivo, has been isolated by the international community for spurning deals to end the crisis and is facing domestic dissent for failing to deliver on the popular pledges that propelled him to power.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h6PPF0thDHYxea1EYiwCgtIWsg5w?docId=CNG.8a715e6abb8e8888f916a64a424e6b92.e01
ANTANANARIVO — The head of the Association of Madagascar Mayors (AMM) was on Thursday sentenced to a two-month jail term for taking part in a banned demonstration and refusing an order to disperse.
Guy Maxime Ralaiseheno was arrested last week at the gathering in central Antananarivo during which AMM urged that local elections scheduled for December 20 be postponed.
"We called for the polls to be postponed, it was the main idea of our association. It was not to oust the transition," said association vice president Eugene Gregoire referring to the regime of Andry Rajoelina who toppled president Marc Ravalomanana in an army-backed coup in March 2009.
Madagascar, already plagued by a long drawn-out political crisis following the 2009 coup, last Sunday announced the postponement of the December senate and mayoral elections due to "technical and political reasons, to give a chance for talks with the opposition," according to a senior official of the regime.
The decision came as the Indian Ocean island emerged from a crisis sparked by a coup attempt by dissident soldiers who were arrested Saturday, three days after declaring they had taken over power.
A series of elections, including parliamentary and presidential votes set for next year, are part of plans by Madagascan rulers to restore normality.
Rajoelina, the 36-year-old former mayor of Antananarivo, has been isolated by the international community for spurning deals to end the crisis and is facing domestic dissent for failing to deliver on the popular pledges that propelled him to power.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h6PPF0thDHYxea1EYiwCgtIWsg5w?docId=CNG.8a715e6abb8e8888f916a64a424e6b92.e01