If there is no first-round winner, there will be a run-off
vote in eight weeks
Voters in Madagascar are going to the polls in the
first election since the military-backed coup four
years ago.
Thirty-three candidates are contesting the election,
which has been postponed three times this year.
Two front-runners are competing with a similar pledge
to rebuild Madagascar's economy after years of
political and economic crisis.
Over 92% of the country's 21 million people live on
less than $2 (£1.2) a day, according to the World Bank.
The two front-runners, Hery Martial Rakotoarimanana
Rajaonarimampianina and Richard Jean-Louis Robinson,
are both pledging to rebuild Madagascar's economy.
President Andry Rajoelina ousted Marc Ravalomanana
from power in 2009, plunging the island nation into
political turmoil and leaving the country isolated by the
international community and deprived of foreign aid.
Political wrangling
After seizing power, Mr Rajoelina announced that there
would be a new constitution and elections within 24
months.
In May 2009 it was agreed that all former presidents
would be allowed to stand in the election. However,
these failed to take place in 2009 or 2010.
Hery Martial Rakotoarimanana Rajaonarimampianina
said he aims to help the unemployed
In January this year Mr Rajoelina and Mr Ravalomanana
both agreed not to stand in the polls, in line with a plan
by the Southern African Development Community
(SADC), a regional bloc that Madagascar belongs to.
The first round of this election was set to take place in
July 2013 but was pushed back to August because Mr
Ravalomanana's wife and former first lady, Lalao - and
then Mr Rajoelina himself - decided to run, prompting
donors to suspend financing for the poll.
Mr Rajoelina and Lalao Ravalomanana were then barred
from standing and the electoral court also struck
former President Didier Ratsiraka from the list of
candidates after the three refused to withdraw.
The African Union had said it would not recognise the
results if any of the three were declared the winner.
The electoral commission then set the elections for 25
October.
Mr Rajaonarimampianina, a former finance minister in
the transitional government, says he aims to help the
unemployed, build infrastructure to improve
agriculture, reform the education system and make
Madagascar a strong democracy.
Richard Jean-Louis Robinson wants to rejuvenate
tourism
Mr Robinson says that his electoral programme will
draw heavily on a new version of Mr Ravalomanana's
Madagascar Action Plan (MAP) to help rebuild society
and also rejuvenate the ailing tourism industry.
The polls will be run by the Independent National
Electoral Commission of the Transition (Cenit) - an
independent electoral body funded by the United
Nations.
No firm date has been set to announce the results but
if no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes
cast, a second round will be held on 20 December,
along with the parliamentary elections.
Cenit says there are 7,697,382 registered voters and
20,115 polling stations in Madagascar, a country the
size of France with a scattered population.
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