Protesting young people reject dissolution of government as insufficient and demand list of reforms
Young protesters in Madagascar have said they will continue their fight for the resignation of the president, Andry Rajoelina, and rejected his dissolution of the government on Monday as insufficient.
Twenty-two people were killed and 100 injured at the demonstrations, according to the UN. The unrest broke out on 25 September when local councillors were arrested for protesting against water and electricity outages in the capital, Antananarivo. The youth-led protests quickly spread to other towns and cities, fuelled by social media and other “Gen Z protests in Indonesia and Nepal, where the government was toppled.
Madagascar is one of the world’s poorest countries, with an average annual income of just $545 last year, according to the World Bank. The Indian Ocean island, which has a population of 32 million, was ranked 140 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Activists, who are part of Gen Z Madagascar, a leaderless group of young people, are demanding the resignation of the president; the dissolution of parliament; the replacement of constitutional court judges and electoral commission members and the rooting out of corruption that they say stems from the president and businessmen close to him.
