Andry Rajoelina issues the decree over social media ahead of an impeachment vote, but he appears close to losing power.Madagascar’s embattled President Andry Rajoelina has issued a decree dissolving the National Assembly as he bids to avert a slide from power.Rajoelina, who has fled the country, issued the decree on social media on Tuesday, ahead of a planned impeachment vote. However, with parts of the military and the police offering support to mass protests calling for his resignation, his efforts to cling to power threaten to send the island nation’s political crisis spiralling into chaos.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe decree to dissolve the assembly “shall enter into force immediately upon its publication by radio and/or television broadcast,” the presidency said in a statement published on Facebook.Rajoelina, whose current whereabouts are unknown, defended the move in a separate social media post as necessary to “restore order within our nation and strengthen democracy”.But opposition leader Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko – who had been planning a vote to impeach Rajoelina on Tuesday – said the decree was “not legally valid”, because the president of the National Assembly, Justin Tokely, was not consulted over the move.President in hidingRajoelina, a former mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, said in a speech broadcast on social media on Monday night that he had left the country in fear for his life and was sheltering in a “safe space”.A military source told the Reuters news agency that Rajoelina left the country on Sunday on board a French army aircraft, although President Emmanuel Macron refused to confirm that his go …
