The UN condemns the “intimidation” of opponents in Madagascar after the May elections

June 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The UN Office for Human Rights has denounced this Thursday the “intimidation” in Madagascar of candidates opposed to the Government after the parliamentary elections of May 29, in which the party of the president, Andry Rajoelina, lost the majority in the Assembly. National.

The elections would have given way to “apparent reprisals” by the authorities, “as well as other forms of intimidation and threats,” warned this Thursday a spokesperson for the United Nations office, Thameen al Kheetan, who gave as an example the calls you made to members of the opposition or the arrests of two independent candidates who denounced irregularities and are now accused of setting fires and attacks “against state security.”

The Constitutional Court is already examining some of these complaints and Al Kheetan has asked for “respect” for the work of the magistrates. Likewise, he has called on the authorities to guarantee freedoms of expression and assembly, given that any arrest for exercising “legitimate” rights is “arbitrary.”

These types of practices, he added, “create a climate of fear, discouraging citizens from freely exercising the full range of civil and political rights.”

In the last elections, Rajoelina’s party obtained 80 of the 163 seats that make up the National Assembly, therefore below the absolute majority, but ahead of the 25 of the official opposition parties and the 52 independent candidates who have run. managed to enter Parliament.

Part of these independents, however, will predictably align with the majority, so a change in the Government would not be in sight. The cabinet, headed by Christian Ntsay, has presented his resignation while waiting for the president to formalize a new appointment, reports the media ‘Midi Madagasikara’.