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Marc Ravalomanana () (born 12 December 1949) is a Malagasy politician who was the President of Madagascar from 2002 to 2009. Born into a farming Merina family in Imerinkasinina, near the capital city of Antananarivo, Ravalomanana first rose to prominence as the founder and CEO of the vast dairy conglomerate TIKO, later launching successful wholesaler MAGRO and several additional companies. He entered politics upon founding the Tiako Iarivo political party in 1999 and successfully ran for the position of mayor of Antananarivo, holding the position from 1999 to 2001. As mayor he improved sanitary and security conditions in the city. In August 2001 he announced his candidacy as an independent in the December 2001 presidential election. He then took office as President in 2002 amidst a dispute over election results in which he successfully pressed his claim to have won a majority in the first round. Under the leadership of Jacques Sylla, Ravalomanana's Prime Minister from 2002 to 2007, the political party ''Tiako i Madagasikara'' (TIM) was founded in 2002 to support Ravalomanana's presidency and came to dominate legislative and local elections. He was re-elected in December 2006, again with a majority in the first round. During Ravalomanana's presidency, Madagascar made significant advances toward development targets and experienced an average of seven per cent growth per year. His administration oversaw the construction of thousands of new schools and health clinics. Road rehabilitation aided in improving rural farmers' access to markets. The establishment of the independent anti-corruption agency BIANCO, and the adoption of diverse supporting policies resulted in a decline in government corruption. The acreage of natural areas under protection expanded in fulfillment of Ravalomanana's "Madagascar Naturally" development program. The 2007 release of Ravalomanana's comprehensive development strategy, the Madagascar Action Plan, set targets and goals for national development over his second term in the areas of governance, infrastructure, agriculture, health, economy, environment and national solidarity. Opposition members criticized Ravalomanana in the later period of his presidency, accusing him of increasing authoritarianism and the mixing of public and private interests. In addition, the benefits of the country's growth were not evenly spread, leading to increased wealth inequality, inflation and a decline in purchasing power for the lower and middle classes. In 2008 a controversial land lease agreement with Korean agricultural firm Daewoo, the purchase of a costly presidential jet and the closure of media channels owned by opposition leader and mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, strengthened popular disapproval of his policies. Rajoelina rallied popular support for the opposition, leading to a popular uprising that began in January 2009 and ended two months later with Ravalomanana's resignation under pressure and Rajoelina taking control with military support in a power transfer viewed by the international community as a ''coup d'état''. From 2009 to 2012 Ravalomanana lived in exile in South Africa, where he was engaged in active negotiations with Rajoelina and former heads of state Albert Zafy and Didier Ratsiraka to organize national elections. In December 2012 he declared he would not present himself as a candidate, then a precondition to the elections being viewed as legitimate by the international community. TGV candidate Hery Rajaonarimampianina was elected president in January 2014, defeating Jean-Louis Robinson, the candidate of Marc Ravalomanana's camp. Upon attempting to return to Madagascar in October 2014 he was arrested, having been sentenced in absentia to lifelong hard labour for abuses of power by the Rajoelina administration. After his sentence was lifted and he was freed from house arrest in May 2015, Ravalomanana announced the re-opening of the Tiko business group and was re-elected the president of TIM. == Early years == The youngest of eight siblings, Marc Ravalomanana was born on 12 December 1949 to a farming family of humble means in the village of Imerinkasinina, east of Antananarivo in Manjakandriana District.〔〔Vivier (2007), p. 13〕 Ravalomanana's parents worked as peddlers before opening a small shop in a rural village in Tamatave Province. Anticipating the regional violence that erupted during the 1947 Malagasy Uprising against French colonial rule, the family relocated to a village near their ancestral lands outside Antananarivo. Once resettled in the highlands, Ravalomanana's mother worked as a seamstress in addition to assisting her husband with farming their land.〔 Ravalomanana's family origins are Merina, the island's largest and most politically prominent ethnic group. The Ravalomanana family tomb is outside the historic walls of the village, a placement that would typically indicate the family's origins lie with the ''hova'' (commoners' caste), rather than the ''andriana'' — the traditional ruling caste among the Merina that continues to exert considerable influence over political affairs in modern Madagascar.〔Galibert (2009), pp. 451–452〕 His later entry into the political sphere has made the question of his caste background one of popular interest and ongoing debate among the Malagasy public and press. Biographer Vivier (2007) maintains that the Ravalomanana family is andriana in origin.〔Vivier (2007), pp. 14–15〕 From a young age he regularly attended the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM), a Reformed Protestant church and, with 2.5 million adherents, the most important religious association in Madagascar.〔 As a youth he sang in the choir and later taught catechism.〔 From age five he began attending Anjeva public primary school, located from Imerinkasinina. He walked this distance daily, often departing early with baskets of watercress to sell to train passengers at the nearby station. He completed his upper primary schooling at the Protestant missionary-run Vinet private school in Ambohimalaza, where his mother arranged for him to live with a host family. After completing his primary studies he attended the Swedish missionary-run technical secondary school in Ambatomanga. He lived with one of his brothers and began producing and selling yogurt in individual serving pots to local villagers and students as a means to subsidize his studies. During this time he met his future wife, Lalao Rakotonirainy, a classmate at the secondary school. In 1972, in a climate of increasing political instability and widespread school-based protests against the Tsiranana administration, Ravalomanana dropped out of the school's eleventh grade program at the age of 23; he then pursued further technical training in Fianarantsoa.〔 He participated in NGO-sponsored entrepreneurship training in Sweden〔 and Germany,〔Galibert (2009), p. 453〕 and business studies in Denmark underwritten by the Danish ambassador. After returning to Madagascar, he wed Lalao on 12 November 1974;〔 their marriage produced one daughter and three sons.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Marc Ravalomanana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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