Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina dissolved the country’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday in the midst of a military rebellion that led him to flee the country.
Mr Rajoelina issued a decree for the National Assembly to be dissolved immediately, according to a statement posted on the Madagascar presidency’s Facebook page.
Mr Rajoelina’s whereabouts are unknown after an elite military unit joined youth-led anti-government protests over the weekend and called for him to step down.
The president said in a speech broadcast on social media on Monday night that he left the country for a “safe place” in fear for his life. He did not say where he was.
His move to dissolve the National Assembly came while politicians were meeting to discuss possible impeachment proceedings to remove Mr Rajoelina as president. By dissolving the National Assembly, Mr Rajoelina effectively blocked any impeachment proceedings.
Madagascar, which has a history of military-backed coups, is in the midst of its worst political crisis since 2009, when Mr Rajoelina himself first came to power as the leader of a transitional government following a coup.
Mr Rajoelina has faced pressure to resign from weeks of anti-government protests led by Gen Z groups, who have railed against chronic water and electricity outages, poverty and alleged corruption and embezzlement of public money by government officials and their families and associates.
The protesters have said they were inspired by other Gen Z-led movements that toppled leaders in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The protests started last month but a turning point came on Saturday when soldiers from the elite Capsat military unit turned against Mr Rajoelina and joined the protests calling for him and government ministers to step down.
The unit says it is in charge of all of Madagascar’s armed forces, and new heads of the military and the gendarmerie security forces have been appointed.
Mr Rajoelina said there had been “an attempt to seize power illegally and by force”.
In his speech from a secret location late Monday, Mr Rajoelina called for dialogue “to find a way out of this situation” and said the constitution should be respected, pushing back against demands that he step down.
He was first elected president in 2018 and was re-elected in 2023 in a vote that was boycotted by opposition parties.
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