2007 Malagasy constitutional referendum

A constitutional referendum was held in Madagascar on 4 April 2007.[1] The proposed changes, which voters were asked to approve or reject as a whole,[2] included:

• expansion of presidential powers in cases of emergency
• abolition of the six autonomous provinces in favor of 22 smaller areas (faritra or regions), a change that is intended to facilitate regional development
• adoption of English as an official language (in addition to the two existing official languages, French and Malagasy)[3]
• removal of the phrase "secular state" (French: état laïque) from the Constitution[3]

Early results, with 73.18% of the vote counted, showed that turnout was around 42.43%. The referendum appeared likely to be passed because 74.93% of the voters in Antananarivo were in favour of the amendments, even though it seemed likely that in four of the five other provinces the "no" vote might have won.[4] According to results released on 7 April, with votes from 85.47% of polling stations counted, 75.24% were in favor of the proposed changes. Roland Ratsiraka, who placed third in the 2006 presidential election and opposed the proposed changes, alleged fraud.[5]

Official results were released on 11 April, but it was necessary for the Constitutional High Court to validate the results in order for them to be final,[6] and this happened on 27 April.[7]

The Judged By Your Work Party (AVI) chose to boycott the referendum, saying that it was deceitful for the referendum to describe a "yes" vote as being a vote for national development.[8]

Results

Malagasy constitutional referendum, 2007[1]

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	2,378,650	75.33
No	779,092	24.67
Valid votes	3,157,742	97.94
Invalid or blank votes	66,346	2.06
Total votes	3,224,088	100.00
Registered voters and turnout	7,381,091	43.68

References

1. "Arrêt n°01-HCC/AR du 27 avril 2007 portant proclamation des résultats officiels du référendum du 4 avril 2007 relatif à la révision de la Constitution.", HCC website (in French).
2. "EISA". EISA. 2016-09-25. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
3. "Référendum à Madagascar: le oui mène largement (deux-tiers des bureaux)", AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), April 6, 2007 (in French).
4. "Initial result shows "Yes" to revision of constitution in Madagascar", Xinhua (People's Daily Online), April 7, 2007.
5. "Les Malgaches disent "oui" au renforcement des pouvoirs du président", AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), April 7, 2007 (in French).
6. "75,38% de oui au référendum constitutionnel", AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), April 11, 2007 (in French).
7. "Validation du OUI au référendum" Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Afriqueouest.info, April 27, 2007 (in French).
8. Iloniaina Alain, "Référendum constitutionnel; L'Avi choisit le boycott" Archived 2007-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, L'Express de Madagascar, March 23, 2007 (in French).