ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Madagascar. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Madagascar. Madagascar in 2001 continued its hesitant process of consolidating democratic institutions, although a weak party system complicates efforts at governance. In 1997, the Rally for Madagascar's Muslim Democrats was registered as the country's first Islamic political party. Legislative elections in May 1998 were viewed as more problematic than preceding polls since Madagascar's transition to multiparty politics in 1992. The Council of Christian Churches and several political groups, for example, noted that the elections were marred by fraud and other abuses. More than half of the population adhere to traditional Malagasy religions and coexist with Christians and Muslims.
