Andry Rajoelina

Andry Nirina Rajoelina (, ; born 30 May 1974) is a Malagasy politician and businessman who has served as president of Madagascar since 2023.

Andry Rajoelina was born on 30 May 1974 to a relatively wealthy family in Antsirabe.

His father, now-retired Colonel Roger Yves Rajoelina, held dual nationality and fought for the French army in the Algerian War.

Although his family could afford a college education for their son, Andry Rajoelina opted to discontinue his studies after completing his baccalauréat to launch a career as a DJ.

In 1993, at the age of 19, Rajoelina established his first enterprise: a small event production company called Show Business. In the following year, he organized an annual concert called Live that brought together foreign and Malagasy musical artists.

The event gathered 50,000 participants on its tenth anniversary.

In 1994, Rajoelina met his future spouse Mialy Razakandisa, who was then completing her senior year at a high school in Antananarivo.

Before entering the political arena, Rajoelina was involved in the private sector, including a printing and advertising company called Injet in 1999 and the Viva radio and television networks in 2007.

In 1999, he launched Injet, the first digital printing technology company available on the island, which gained quick traction with its expansion of billboard advertising throughout the capital.

The couple courted long-distance for six years while Mialy completed her undergraduate and masters studies in finance and accounting in Paris; they were reunited in Madagascar in 2000 and wed the same year.

Following his marriage in 2000, Andry and Mialy Rajoelina acquired Domapub, a competing Antananarivo-based billboard advertising business owned by Andry's in-laws.

The couple worked together to manage the family businesses, with Andry responsible for Injet and his wife handling the affairs of Domapub.

Their marriage produced two boys, Arena (born 2002) and Ilonstoa (born 2003), and a daughter born in 2005 whom the couple named Ilona.

The first conflicts between Andry Rajoelina and president Marc Ravalomanana date back to 2003, when the national government ordered the removal of Antananarivo's first Trivision advertising panels, which Rajoelina had installed at a major roundabout in the capital.

He formed the political party Young Malagasies Determined and was elected Mayor of Antananarivo in 2007.

In May 2007, Andry Rajoelina purchased the Ravinala television and radio stations, and renamed them Viva TV and Viva FM.

In 2007, Rajoelina created and led the political association Tanora malaGasy Vonona (TGV), meaning "determined Malagasy youth", and shortly afterward announced his candidacy to run for Mayor of Antananarivo.

His very young age became a lever to gain a quick popularity throughout the nation (jeunification of politics).

Rajoelina was elected on 12 December 2007 with 63.3% of the vote on a 55% voter turnout, beating TIM party incumbent Hery Rafalimanana.

In November and December 2008, the government became embroiled in two scandals.

A July 2008 deal with Daewoo Logistics to lease half the island's arable land for South Korean cultivation of corn and palm oil, and the November 2008 purchase of a second presidential jet, a Boeing 737, at a cost of US$60 million, which led the World Bank and the IMF to suspend $35 million worth of financial support to the Island.

Rajoelina used this to garner support against Ravalomanana's government.

At the beginning of Rajoelina's tenure as mayor, the Antananarivo's treasury had a debt of 8.2 billion Malagasy Ariary (approximately US$4.6 million).

On 4 January 2008, due to unpaid debts to the Jirama, the city of Antananarivo was hit by a general water cutoff, and brownouts of the city's street lights.

After an audit, it was found that the Jirama owed about the same amount of money to the City Hall, and the sanction on the city's population was retrieved.

On 13 December 2008, the national government closed Andry Rajoelina's Viva TV, stating that a Viva interview with exiled former head of state Didier Ratsiraka was "likely to disturb peace and security".

While in this position, he led an opposition movement against then-President Marc Ravalomanana that culminated in a 2009 political crisis.

Rajoelina was appointed as President of the High Transitional Authority of Madagascar (HTA) by a military council, in a move characterised as a coup d'état by the international community.

Rajoelina dissolved the Senate and National Assembly, and transferred their powers to a variety of new governance structures responsible for overseeing the transition toward a new constitutional authority.

This conflicted with an internationally mediated process to establish a transitional government.

Voters approved a new constitution in a controversial national referendum in November 2010, ushering in the Fourth Republic.

He held the Presidency of the HTA until general elections were held in 2013, and stepped down in 2014.

He previously served as president from 2019 to 2023, and was president of a provisional government from 2009 to 2014 following a political crisis and military-backed coup, having held the office of Mayor of Antananarivo for one year prior.

He won the 2018 presidential election and was inaugurated President of Madagascar on 19 January 2019.

His tenure included directing the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Madagascar, during which he promoted misinformation and unproven treatments for the disease, as well as a 2021 food insecurity crisis and Cyclone Batsirai.

In June 2023, the revelation of his acquisition of French nationality in 2014 led to the opening of a parliamentary inquiry, followed by the questioning of the High Constitutional Court by a group of citizens of the Malagasy diaspora in France.

Under Malagasy law, this may have disqualified him from the presidency, as the country imposes a loss of citizenship if voluntarily acquiring another nationality, and only allows citizens of Madagascar to hold the Presidency.

Rajoelina argued that he automatically acquired the French nationality through his father, thus not making him lose his Malagasy one.

The Constitutional Court eventually sided with him, pointing out the lack of a decree removing his nationality.

Rajoelina then proceeded to win the 2023 Malagasy presidential election.