Madagascar's incumbent leading in capital as first results come in

Dec 4, 2006, 11:30 GMT

Antananarivo, Madagascar - Incumbent President Marc Ravalomanana had a clear lead in the capital Antananarivo Monday according to provisional results of Sunday's presidential elections held in the east African island of Madagascar.

According to the preliminary results, Ravalomanana, 56, topped the poll in the capital with 70 per cent in the capital, with the next best candidate taking just 10.7 of the votes.

In Tamatave, the largest port on the island's east coast, Roland Ratsiraka, city mayor and nephew of former dictator Didier Ratsiraka, was topping the polls.

Also, in the northern town of Diego Suarez, the preliminary results were pointing to a runoff between Ratsikara and the incumbent who has been in power since 2002.

Six million people in the east African island of Madagascar went to the polls Sunday to elect a new president.

Ravalomanana was expected to gain an absolute majority over 13 other candidates in the first round, in the absence of which the voting will go to a second round in 30 days.

The election on the world's fourth-largest island is the first since 2001, when an election ended in civil war after former dictator Ratsiraka refused to concede defeat. He later went into exile, opening the way for Ravalomanana to take power in 2002.

Reliable provisional results are only expected in 10 to 15 days, with final results not expected for three to four weeks.

More than half the population on this impoverished island, where two-thirds of the population live on less than a dollar a day, are aged under 18.

Several people also have no birth certificate and were unable to register to vote, explaining why only six out of 18 million residents were eligible to cast a ballot.