Madagascar's presidential election postponed to August 23

Madagascar's presidential election is postponed to Aug. 23 from July 24, Minister of Interior Florent Rakotoarisoa said on Thursday. Rakotoarisoa said the decision was taken at a government council meeting held on Thursday, following the case of force majeure declared by the special electoral court (CES) on May 28. The minister said according to the law and the roadmap, the government council should announce the date of election 48 hours after the CES announce the case of force majeure. The CES declared the case of force majeure because the Malagasy reconciliation council and the armed forces asked for the postponement of the election for a month. The minister said all government officials already resigning resume their position for one month. The dates of a presidential run-off, the legislative election and the communal election, as well as the deposit of candidature will be postponed for one month, the official added. The minister of Interior said to avoid institutional vacuum in the position of the president of transition, who is also candidate, a draft law was already written by the government and will be sent to the transitional parliament to be adopted. On Wednesday, the CES maintained all the 41 candidates would run in the presidential race. The electoral commission of the Indian Ocean Island country recently said all technical preparations for the election were well conducted and that the international community did not suspend their funding to the election.