1. Marc Ravalomanana entered politics upon founding the Tiako Iarivo political party in 1999 and successfully ran for the position of mayor of Antananarivo, holding the position from 1999 to 2001.
31 Facts About Marc Ravalomanana
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Marc Ravalomanana then took office as president in 2002 amidst a dispute over election results in which he successfully pressed his claim to have won a majority in the first round.
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Marc Ravalomanana was re-elected in December 2006, again with a majority in the first round.
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Marc Ravalomanana's administration oversaw the construction of thousands of new schools and health clinics.
5.
From 2009 to 2012 Marc Ravalomanana lived in exile in South Africa, where he was engaged in active negotiations with Rajoelina and former heads of state Albert Zafy and Didier Ratsiraka to organize national elections.
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Marc Ravalomanana was born on 12 December 1949 in the village of Imerinkasinina, 40 kilometres east of Antananarivo in Manjakandriana District.
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Marc Ravalomanana's parents worked as peddlers before opening a small shop in a rural village in Tamatave Province.
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Marc Ravalomanana walked this distance daily, often departing early with baskets of watercress to sell to train passengers at the nearby station.
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Marc Ravalomanana completed his upper primary private school in Ambohimalaza.
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Marc Ravalomanana opened his first yogurt and cheese production center in 1977 in Sambaina on land he named Rova-Tiko, where he would build the first Tiko factory several years later.
11.
Marc Ravalomanana solicited a loan from the Agence Francaise de Developpement to further expand his business, but this request was denied, souring his view of France.
12.
The representative of the World Bank to Madagascar at the time, Jose Bronfman, secured the loan with exceptionally favorable reimbursement conditions that enabled Marc Ravalomanana to sell his products at a lower cost than other small dairy producers, which gradually put his most significant competitors out of business.
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Marc Ravalomanana cultivated political relationships to facilitate the continued growth of Tiko in spite of an economic climate non-conducive to free enterprise under the Socialist administration of Ratsiraka.
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Marc Ravalomanana overcame the objection by breeding high-yield cows locally, thereby further boosting Tiko production.
15.
When Norbert Ratsirahonana declared himself a candidate in the 1997 presidential elections against Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy, Marc Ravalomanana provided significant financial contributions to the Ratsirahonana campaign in return for tax exemptions on his edible oil products for a period of five years.
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Marc Ravalomanana was elected with 45 per cent of the votes.
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Marc Ravalomanana's tenure stretched from December 1999 to his ascent to the Presidential office in May 2002.
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Marc Ravalomanana's campaign promoted his image as a self-made man who would draw upon his business to develop the country and played upon his youth and his non-alliance with the elderly "political dinosaurs" who had dominated politics over the previous three decades.
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Marc Ravalomanana, claiming to have won a majority in the first round, refused to participate in a run-off and after a recount, on 29 April 2002 the High Constitutional Court declared that Marc Ravalomanana had won 51.3 percent of the vote, enough for a narrow first-round victory.
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Also after being elected in 2002, Marc Ravalomanana remained a prominent player in the private sector.
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Marc Ravalomanana created a public roads construction company, Asa Lalana Malagasy.
22.
The benefits of economic growth during the Marc Ravalomanana administration were not evenly distributed, leading to higher costs of living for all Malagasy and a deepening poverty among much of the population with fewer able to increase their wealth.
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Marc Ravalomanana's critics remarked that the greatest beneficiary of his reforms and policies was the president himself, giving the example of road construction projects that enabled Tiko to distribute more efficiently as well as the farmers and other small businesspeople targeted by the initiative.
24.
On 18 November 2006, Marc Ravalomanana's jet was forced to divert from Madagascar's capital during a return trip from Europe following reports of a coup underway in Antananarivo and shooting near the airport.
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Marc Ravalomanana ran for a second term in the presidential election held on 3 December 2006.
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Hours later, Marc Ravalomanana transferred his power to a group of senior army personnel.
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Marc Ravalomanana later declared he had been forced at gunpoint to relinquish power.
28.
On 10 December 2012, Marc Ravalomanana announced that he would not participate in the elections, and encouraged Rajoelina to follow.
29.
Marc Ravalomanana was candidate at the Malagasy presidential elections 2018.
30.
Marc Ravalomanana ran as a candidate at the 2023 Malagasy presidential elections.
31.
Marc Ravalomanana owns media group Malagasy Broadcasting System, which operates radio and television stations.