Outpoll | Military unit seizes power in Madagascar amid street celebrations.

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Military unit seizes power in Madagascar amid street celebrations.

Military unit seizes power in Madagascar amid street celebrations.

2 days ago7 min read4 comments

The brittle political order in Madagascar shattered today as an elite military unit seized control of the government, a lightning-fast coup d'état met not with resistance but with raucous street celebrations in the capital of Antananarivo. Crowds poured into the avenues, their cheers a stark soundtrack to the collapse of the presidential administration, a palpable release of pent-up public frustration that the soldiers now in power will undoubtedly seek to channel into legitimacy for their new regime.This is not an isolated incident but the latest violent convulsion in the island nation's long and troubled history of political instability, a pattern of military intervention that dates back to the coups of 2009 and even earlier. The immediate trigger remains opaque, buried in the closed-door disputes between the president and his armed forces, likely a final, irreparable breach over economic policy, foreign allegiances, or the president's own authoritarian overreach.Analysts from risk consultancies are already scrambling to model the fallout, with initial scenarios pointing toward immediate international condemnation, the suspension of vital aid from the African Union and Western partners, and a freeze on the critical tourism and mining investments that the fragile economy desperately depends upon. The real question now is whether this military council possesses a coherent plan for governance beyond the barracks, or if this seizure of power merely sets the stage for a protracted and bloody power struggle between rival army factions, leaving a power vacuum that could destabilize the entire Indian Ocean region. The world watches, on high alert, as another nation teeters on the brink.