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Madagascar President Randrianirina denies coup after Gen Z uprising
10th November, 2025 11:34 AM
A Gen Z uprising has pushed Madagascar’s former leader, Andry Rajoelina, not only out of office but out of the country.
In his place is Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who was sworn in as president of the island nation last month after his military unit joined the protesters.
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He sighs and sinks deeper into the chair. He looks humbled and struggles to find the words.
“How do I put it?” he says. “I am happy, and it is also a great honour to have come to this palace to be able to help and support the Malagasy people in deep poverty.”
As commander of an elite non-combatant military unit, Corps d’Administration des Personnels et des Services de l’Armée de Terre (CAPSAT), the colonel rode a wave of Gen Z protests to the palace. On October 11, 2025, he shared a video on social media instructing officers to disobey shoot-to-kill orders and support the movement.
At least 22 protesters have been killed and more than 100 injured after denouncing the power cuts and water shortages that have come to signify government corruption in the impoverished island nation.
Why did he share the pivotal video?
He says, “I am a military officer, but I am also part of the people, and I will return to the people. When you feel sorry for what the people are suffering from… they have been poor for so long and wealth has been looted – but you still shoot them and kill them. That was not why I entered the military of Madagascar, to kill people.”
Soon after his speech, soldiers allowed the young protesters rejecting then-president Andry Rajoelina to occupy Place du 13 Mai Square on Independence Avenue in the heart of Antananarivo, the island nation’s capital.
Colonel Randrianirina paraded through a crowd and addressed them from the hatch of an armoured vehicle. “The president of the nation has to leave… If that does not happen,” he threatened, “we will see”.
After Rajoelina fled Madagascar on October 23, 2025, the National Assembly voted to impeach him for “desertion of duty”. Three days later, Colonel Randrianirina stood in fatigues in front of the palace. With officers by his side, he announced their seizure of power and the dissolution of the constitution and all government institutions outside of the National Assembly.
Shortly after, the African Union suspended Madagascar’s membership on account of the military takeover.
In the palace as president, he insists that this is not a military coup.
“It is support for the people and the country and for us to not be prone to civil war – between the people – between the military officers and your needs, so you adjust, helping to support the people to avoid this.
“We were not conducting any coup at all; it was the president [Rajoelina] himself who decided to leave the country.”
