Tsiranana sought to establish national unity through a policy of stability and moderation. The popular and political impact was significant. The President invited these "Heroes of 1947" to enter his second government on 10 October 1960; Joseph Ravoahangy became Minister of Health and Jacques Rabemananjara became Minister of the Economy. Joseph Raseta, by contrast, refused the offer and joined
AFKM instead. Tsiranana frequently affirmed his membership of the western bloc: Tsiranana's administration thus aspired to respect
human rights and the press was relatively free - as was the justice system. The Constitution of 1959 guaranteed political pluralism. MONIMA won the mayoralty of
Toliara (with Monja Jaona) and the mayoralty of
Antsirabe (with Emile Rasakaiza). By skilful political manoeuvres, Tsiranana's government took control of these mayoralties, one by one. By decree n°60.085 of 24 August 1960 it was established that "the administration of the city of Tananarive is henceforth entrusted to an official chosen by the Minister of the Interior and entitled General Delegate." This official took on practically all the prerogatives of mayor Andriamanjato. Then, on 1 March 1961, Tsiranana "resigned" Monja Joana from his position as mayor of Toliara. In those municipal elections, the PSD won 14 of the 36 seats on the Antsirabe municipal council; AKFM won 14 and MONIMA 8. A coalition of the two parties allowed the local leader of AKFM, Blaise Rakotomavo, to become mayor. The government chose a majority general ticket ballot system, in order to enable PSD's success in all regions (especially Majunga and Toliara). its allies held 29, and AKFM only had 3. The "3rd Force," an alliance of thirteen local parties, received some 30% of the national vote (468,000 votes), but did not obtain a single seat. The PSD then absorbed its allies and was henceforth represented in the Assembly by 104 deputies. The Malagasy political scene was split between two very unequal factions: on the one side, the PSD, which was almost a one party state; on the other, AKFM, the sole opposition party tolerated by Tsiranana in parliament. This opposition was entrenched at the
legislative elections of 8 August 1965. The PSD retained 104 deputies, with 94% of the national vote (2,304,000 votes), while the AKFM picked off 3 seats with 3.4% of the vote (145,000 votes). According to Tsiranana, the weakness of the opposition was due to the fact that its members "talk a lot but never act," unlike those of the PSD, who were he claimed supported by the majority of Malagasy because they were organised, disciplined, and in permanent contact with the working class.
Presidential election (1965) On 16 June 1962, an institutional law established the rules for the election of the president of the Republic by
universal direct suffrage. Joseph Raseta, who had quit AKFM in 1963 in order to found his own party, the National Malagasy Union (FIPIMA), stood as a presidential candidate. The leader of MONIMA, Monja Jaona, expressed a momentary desire to run, It then discretely supported Tsiranana. On 30 March 1965, 2,521,216 votes were cast (the total number of people enrolled to vote was 2,583,051). Tsiranana was re-elected as president with 2,451,441 votes, 97% of the total. In order to analyse the country's economic situation, he held the "Malagasy Development Days" in Tananarive on the 25th and 27 April 1962. Through these national audits, it became clear that Madagascar's communication network was entirely insufficient and that there were problems surrounding access to water and electricity. but it was potentially rich in agricultural resources. which exceeded US$20 million in 1969; For the realisation of this plan, it was envisaged that the private sector would contribute 55 billion
Malagasy francs. To encourage this investment, the government set out to create a regime favourable to lenders using four institutions: the
Institut d'Émission Malgache, the state treasury, the Malagasy National Bank, and above all the National Investment Society, To ensure the confidence of foreign capitalists, Tsiranana condemned the principle of
nationalisation: This did not prevent the government from instituting a 50% tax on commercial profits not reinvested in Madagascar.
Cooperatives and state intervention If Tsiranana was entirely hostile to the idea of socialising the means of production, he was nevertheless a socialist. His government encouraged the development of
cooperatives and other means of voluntary participation. In 1970, the cooperative sector held a monopoly on the harvesting of
vanilla. Instituted in 1960 to combat idleness, the civic service enabled Malagasy youth to acquire a general education and professional training.
Education as a motor for development In the area of education, an effort to increase the
literacy of the rural population was undertaken, with the civic service's young conscripts playing a notable role. This enabled the primary school workforce to be doubled from 450,000 to nearly a million, the secondary school workforce to be quadrupled from 26,000 to 108,000 and the higher education workforce to be sextupled from 1,100 to 7,000.
Lycées were opened in all provinces, As a result of this increased education, Tsiranana planned to establish a number of Malagasy technical and administrative groups. despite an increase in its value from 6.3 billion Malagasy francs in 1960 to 33.6 billion in 1971, an average annual increase of 15%. It was the processing sector which grew the most: • In the agricultural area, rice mills, starch manufacturers, oil mills, sugar refineries and canning plants were developed. and the Madagascar
paper mill (PAPMAD) was created in Tananarive. The communication network remained inadequate. Under Tsiranana there were only three railway routes: Tananarive-Tamatave (with a branch leading to
Lake Alaotra), Tananarive-Antsirabe, and
Fianarantsoa-
Manakara. Each year, between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of de luxe rice was exported. Tsiranana was surrounded by an entourage of French technical advisors, the "vazahas", of whom the most important were: • Paul Roulleau, who headed the cabinet and was involved in all economic affairs. After that, they were reduced to an advisory role and, with rare exceptions, they lost all influence. When the French government decided to withdraw nearly 1,200 troops from Madagascar in January 1964, Tsiranana took offence: From independence, Madagascar was in the franc-zone. In 1960, 73% of exports went to the franc-zone, with France among the main trade partners, supplying 10 billion CFA francs to the Malagasy economy. This aid, in all its forms, was equal to two thirds of the Malagasy national budget until 1964. Further, thanks to the conventions of association with the
European Economic Community (EEC), the advantages arising from the market organisations of the franc-zone, the Aid Fund, and the French Cooperation (FAC), were transferred to the community's level. Banks, insurance agencies, high scale commerce, industry and some agricultural production (sugar,
sisal, tobacco, cotton, etc.) remained under the control of the foreign minority. Further, the Philibert Tsiranana Foundation, instituted in 1965 and charged with forming political and administrative recruits for the PSD, was funded by the
Social Democratic Party of Germany. •
Taiwan, which sought to continue relations after his visit to the island in April 1962. An attempt at a commercial overture towards the
Communist bloc and southern Africa including
Malawi and
South Africa. During the second summit of the OAU in
Cairo on 19 July 1964, he declared that the organisation was weakened by three illnesses: He served as mediator from 6–13 March 1961, during a round-table organised by him in Tananarive to permit the various belligerents in the
Congo Crisis to work out a solution to the conflict. It was decided to transform the
Republic of Congo into a confederation, led by
Joseph Kasavubu. On 5 November 1965, he attacked the
People's Republic of China and affirmed that "coups d'etat always bear the traces of Communist China." A little later, on 5 January 1966, after the
Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état in the
Central African Republic, he went so far as to praise those who carried out the coup: == Decline and fall of the regime (1967-1972) ==