A constitutional referendum was held in

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

on 4 April 2007."Arrêt n°01-HCC/AR du 27 avril 2007 portant proclamation des résultats officiels du référendum du 4 avril 2007 relatif à la révision de la Constitution."
HCC website . The proposed changes, which voters were asked to approve or reject as a whole, included: *expansion of presidential powers in cases of emergency *abolition of the six autonomous provinces in favor of 22 smaller areas (''faritra'' or regions), a change that is intended to facilitate regional development *adoption of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

as an official language (in addition to the two existing official languages,

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and Malagasy)"Référendum à Madagascar: le oui mène largement (deux-tiers des bureaux)"
AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), April 6, 2007 . *removal of the phrase "

secular state is an idea pertaining to secularity, whereby a state is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of relig ...

" () from the Constitution Early results, with 73.18% of the vote counted, showed that turnout was around 42.43%. The referendum appeared likely to be passed because 74.93% of the voters in

Antananarivo Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...

were in favour of the amendments, even though it seemed likely that in four of the five other provinces the "no" vote might have won. According to results released on 7 April, with votes from 85.47% of polling stations counted, 75.24% were in favor of the proposed changes. Roland Ratsiraka, who placed third in the 2006 presidential election and opposed the proposed changes, alleged fraud. Official results were released on 11 April, but it was necessary for the Constitutional High Court to validate the results in order for them to be final, and this happened on 27 April. The

Judged By Your Work Party The Judged By Your Work Party (''Asa Vita no Ifampitsarana'', ''Akaiky ny Vahoaka Indrindra'', AVI) is a centrist political party in Madagascar. The AVI backed Marc Ravalomanana, the opposition candidate in the disputed December 2001 presidenti ...

(AVI) chose to boycott the referendum, saying that it was deceitful for the referendum to describe a "yes" vote as being a vote for national development.Iloniaina Alain
"Référendum constitutionnel; L'Avi choisit le boycott"
, ''L'Express de Madagascar'', March 23, 2007 .

Results

References

{{Malagasy elections Referendums in Madagascar 2007 in Madagascar

Constitutional referendums in Madagascar April 2007 in Africa Secularism in Africa