On Friday, October 24, 2025, a decree signed by Madagascar’s Prime Minister Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo officially stripped former President Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy citizenship.

This decision leaves Rajoelina with only French citizenship  the country that granted him asylum after he was ousted from power during mass protests.

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The decree, signed by Prime Minister Rajaonarivelo, was published in the government’s official gazette (Journal Officiel) and confirmed by sources close to the Prime Minister, according to RFI reports.

Madagascar’s nationality laws, in effect since 1960, state in Article 42, under the section titled “Loss or Deprivation of Malagasy Nationality,” that any Malagasy citizen who voluntarily acquires another nationality automatically loses their Malagasy citizenship.

It was revealed that in 2014, Rajoelina voluntarily applied for French citizenship through a decree signed by then–French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. However, he kept this information secret for nearly a decade until it became public in June 2023, just a few months before the presidential elections.

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At the time, Rajoelina explained that he had applied for French citizenship so that his children could continue their studies in France, saying, “That document does not change the blood that runs in my veins.”

Following the revocation of his Malagasy citizenship, Andry Rajoelina is now ineligible to run again for president of Madagascar.

Andry Nirina Rajoelina, 51, served as the eighth president of Madagascar from 2019 until 2025, but he first rose to prominence in national politics after the ousting of former President Marc Ravalomanana.