[3/5] Madagascar is the first African country in which Russian electoral interference has been documented and proven. During the 2018 presidential election, between six and nine of the thirty-six candidates vying for the supreme magistracy received help from mysterious Moscow strategists. It’s about a modus operandi methodical and well-perfected in one of the poorest countries in the world, but in which it is said that the cost of an electoral campaign is one of the highest on the planet, thanks to a permissive electoral law that does not set a ceiling and authorizes foreign financing . RFI’s correspondent in Madagascar looks back on this “rigged” presidential election with the investigative journalist who demonstrated Russian influence in a 2019 BBC documentary.
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3 min
From our correspondent in Antananarivo, Sarah Tétaud
“I didn’t know who sent them, but what I did know was that they were Russians and that they had come to support me! So I didn’t go looking for the fifth leg of the cat.” Pasteur Mailhol was one of the first candidates in the 2018 presidential election in Madagascar who admitted to investigative journalist Gaëlle Borgia that he had received help from the Russians.
In her documentary “Did Russia rig the presidential elections?”, the Franco-Malagasy journalist reveals how Wagner’s men acted to influence the vote. “During our investigation, we were able to identify half a dozen Malagasy presidential candidates who had been contacted by Russians. They presented themselves as electoral strategists. They claimed to have experience in elections in Africa.”Borgia explains.
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The dozens of Russians who had entered the country on tourist visas were quick to offer logistical and financial help. Omer Beriziky, former Prime Minister and candidate for the elections, recounts in the documentary the first exchanges that he had with his interlocutors: “They asked me if I was willing to open Malagasy diplomacy to other horizons. I said of course. And they told me: we will help you.” Question from Gaëlle Borgia: And how much was his budget with the Russians? Answer : A little less than 2 million dollars.
“The Russians promised large sums”
“What we know -says the investigative journalist- is that for this electoral interference in Madagascar, the Russians promised large sums of money. Promises that were not always fulfilled. They had a large budget to print a free newspaper distributed outside the capital, where articles were published in favor of the candidates they supported. And that meant thousands of impressions every week.”
Little by little, the generous sponsors became part of the teams of their various protégés.
At the heart of the campaign team
“Little by little, they even became campaign managers for the Malagasy elections. And according to the testimonies we heard, the members of the Malagasy electoral teams ended up reporting to them”explains the journalist.
read alsoRussian influence in Africa, episode 2: Central African Republic, laboratory of Russian mercenaries
Excerpt from the documentary: “It was as if they were the ones who decided what we had to do and we had to do it. I was under the impression that we were more service providers than the candidate’s campaign team.” Regarding the counterparts, the negotiators were clear: “If one of the candidates ended up in the second round, well, the losers supported by Russia would have to support the winning candidate.”
So should the current president Andry Rajoelina his victory to the Russians?
“We know that the Russians approached him during the runoff – and that they changed their minds, because they initially intended to support the outgoing president, Hery Rajaonarimampianina – and we know that, after his election, the Russians secretly met with Malagasy government ministers. But today it is difficult to prove that Andry Rajoelina counted on Russian help to win the presidential elections.”explains Gaëlle Borgia.
Regarding the upcoming elections scheduled for the end of the year, some sources say that several members responsible for electoral interference are about to leave the island. Will it be the end of the Russian strategy in Madagascar?
Or the beginning of a new chapter?
