Published On 20/10/2025
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Last update: 23:06 (Mecca time)
Madagascar’s military governor, Colonel Michael Randrianirina, announced on Monday the appointment of businessman and advisor Hrintsalama Rajaunarivelo as the new prime minister.
After consultations with the National Assembly, Randrianirina chose Herintsalama Rajonarivelo, a prominent figure in the private sector and former head of the Malagasy BNA Bank, and is expected to begin consultations to form the first government after the overthrow of ousted President Andry Rajoelina.
Explaining his choice of Rajaonarivelo as Prime Minister, Randrianirina said, “Rajaonarivelo has the skills and experience, in addition to his relationships with international organizations in other countries that will cooperate with Madagascar.” He considered the choice of prime minister a “scrupulous adherence to the constitution.”
Days after assuming power in the wake of the youth-led protests that ousted his predecessor, Andry Rajoelina, Randrianirina was sworn in as president last Friday before the Supreme Constitutional Court.
Randrianirina pledged to implement comprehensive reforms, fight corruption and involve the youth movement that led the protests against President Andry Rajoelina in the management of state affairs. He rejected the accusations leveled against him last week of leading a coup.
Randrianirina led the Kapsat army unit that rebelled on October 11, denouncing the violence carried out by Rajoelina’s security forces against anti-government demonstrators.
Randrianirina joined the demonstrations in the capital, Antananarivo, and his joining marked a turning point in the weeks-long protests, prompting Rajoelina to flee the country.
For his part, Rajoelina, who was dismissed by lawmakers after fleeing abroad, denounced the army’s assumption of power and refused to step down while he was outside the country, despite defections in the security forces and the Supreme Constitutional Court’s ratification of the army’s assumption of power.