JEAN LAHINIRIKO

'Jean Lahiniriko' (born April 1 1956^[1]) is a Malagasy politician. He was Minister of Public Works from 2002 to 2003, President of the National Assembly of Madagascar from 2003 to 2006, and the second place candidate in the 2006 presidential election.
Lahiniriko was born in Tongobory in the south of Madagascar and studied at the Lycée de génie civil d'Ampefoloha à Antananarivo. In the late 1970s, he moved to undertake further studies in civil engineering in Cuba. After working on various civil engineering projects, in 1985, he became the director of Zanatany, then from 1989 until 2003 he held various prominent civil service posts.¹
Under President Marc Ravalomanana, Lahiniriko was appointed as the Minister of Public Works in Prime Minister Jacques Sylla's first government, named on March 1 2002,^[2] remaining in that position until January 2003. He was elected to the National Assembly in the December 2002 parliamentary election from South Betioky district in Toliara Province under the banner of the Tiako I Madagasikara (TIM) party,¹ receiving 56% of the vote in his district."L'express de Madagascar:UN "MPIANDRY" AU PERCHOIR : JEAN LAHINIRIKO ÉLU POUR PRÉSIDER À TSIMBAZAZA", ''L'express de Madagascar'' (lemako.free.fr), January 22, 2003 . On January 21 2003, he was elected as President of the National Assembly, receiving 113 out of 146 votes.^[3]
In April 2006, Lahiniriko visited Iran and while there commented positively on Iran's nuclear programme. At home, his comments led to accusations of treason from members of parliament; Lahiniriko said the comments had only represented his personal views and were not intended as a statement of official policy. On May 8, parliament voted Lahiniriko out of his position as Speaker, with 119 out of 160 legislators in favor of his removal.^[4] He was also expelled from TIM a week before he was voted out of his position. Two days after being removed from office, he announced that he would run for president in the December 2006 presidential election.^[5] According to provisional results, he placed second, with 11.68% of the vote, behind Ravalomanana, who received a majority in the first round.^[6] Lahiniriko did, however, win about 46% of the vote in Toliara Province, ten points more than Ravalomanana.^[7]
Lahiniriko's campaign director called the results false and said that Ravalomanana had only won about 49%.^[8] Lahiniriko claimed that there were problems with the electoral list and said that he did not accept the official results. He and third place candidate Roland Ratsiraka said that they were challenging the results in court and that they wanted the election to be held over again.^[9]
Lahiniriko opposed the constitutional changes proposed in the 2007 constitutional referendum and participated in a national committee that campaigned for a "no" vote as a coordinator of action.^[10]

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References

References

1. Biographie de M. Jean LAHINIRIKO
2. "Le gouvernement du Madagascar formé le 1er mars 2002", ''Afrique Express'', N° 246, March 14, 2002 .
3. "Jean Lahiniriko élu président de l’Assemblée nationale", ''Afrique Express'', N° 263, January 29, 2003 .
4. "Madagascar speaker ousted over Iran support", Reuters, May 10, 2006.
5. "Speaker eyes presidency as Iran row deepens", AFP (''IOL''), May 11, 2006.
6. "Ravalomanana likely to win presidential election", IRIN, December 11, 2006.
7. Results for Toliara, Interior Ministry of Madagascar site.
8. "Madagascar re-elects president", Reuters (News.com.au), December 11, 2006.
9. Jonny Hogg, "Opposition to Challenge Madagascar Vote", Associated Press (sfgate.com), December 11, 2006.
10. "Début de la campagne pour le référendum constitutionnel", AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), March 20, 2007 .