Three groups, led by former presidents, refuse to initial road map aimed at ending two-year impasse
Three opposition groups in Madagascar have rejected a new unity government named as part of a road map to end a two-year impasse.
The government, named on Saturday, has 23 new ministers while nine members of the previous administration retain their posts – including the ministers of finance, mines and hydrocarbons, justice, defence, and the environment and forests.
The groups, led by former presidents Marc Ravalomanana, Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy, declined to initial the plan, which allows Andry Rajoelina, who grabbed power with military support in 2009, to remain president until free and fair elections are held.
Rajoelina did, however, include some members of the party founded by Ravalomanana and some dissidents within his movement.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) had long called for Rajoelina to go so Ravalomanana could return to power, but it shifted its stance earlier this year by approving the plan to leave Rajoelina in office until elections.
The prime minister, Camille Vital, said he thought the new government was inclusive and that SADC would accept it.
A member of Zafy's group, however, said the government had been formed unilaterally by Rajoelina's transitional administration to buy more time.
An official in Ravalomanana's movement said that until the road map had been signed, the current administration had no business appointing a new government.
The political deadlock has hurt Madagascar's economy after donors froze budgetary support worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Government spending dried up and private investment slowed sharply after the power grab.
An independent electoral commission and UN representatives will agree a date for the election based on evaluations of how soon a credible vote can be held.