Richard Mahitsison Andriamanjato (31 July 1930 – 16 May 2013) was a Malagasy
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
.
After leaving education, Andriamanjato became a Pastor. He also became involved with the nationalist cause. From 1950 to 1957, he studied in France. In 1957, he attended the
Bandung Conference
The first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference ( id, Konferensi Asia–Afrika)—also known as the Bandung Conference—was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on 18–2 ...
Antananarivo
Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "An ...
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
. In 1958, he founded the
Party of the Independence Congress of Madagascar
Party of the Independence Congress of Madagascar (in French language, French: ''Parti du Congrès de l'indépendence de Madagascar'', in Malagasy language, Malagasy: ''Antoko'ny Kongresi'ny Fahaleovantenan'i Madagasikara''), is a communist polit ...
(AKFM), which developed links with the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...
and acted as the main opposition for more than a decade. In 1959, he was elected
Mayor of Antananarivo
The Mayor of Antananarivo is the Mayor of the capital city, capital and largest city in Madagascar, Antananarivo.
The post of mayor of Antananarivo is considered to be one of the most prominent and influential offices in Madagascar. It is also con ...
.
In 1972, Andriamanjato supported Didier Ratsiraka, and in 1976 he led the AKFM into the
National Front for the Defence of the Revolution
The Malagasy Revolutionary Party, better known by its Malagasy language, Malagasy acronym AREMA (from ), is a political party in Madagascar. It was the ruling party of the Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a Marxist–Leninist one-party social ...
, the government coalition. A supporter of Albert Zafy, he split from Ratsiraka and the AKFM in 1989 to form the
Party of the Independence Congress of Madagascar - Renewal
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...
. From 1991 to 1993, he was co-president of the transitional
Committee for Economic and Social Recovery
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
National Assembly of Madagascar
The National Assembly ( mg, Antenimieram-Pirenena; french: Assemblée Nationale) is the lower house of the Parliament of Madagascar. The Assembly has 151 members, elected for five-year terms in single-member and two-member constituencies.
The Pa ...