Madagascar votes amid calls for boycott: summary

What we know

• Voters in Madagascar have headed to the polls on Thursday in a presidential election boycotted by 10 out of 12 opposition candidates and marred by weeks of violent protests.
• People queued at polling stations in areas supporting President Andry Rajoelina and his Tanora MalaGasy Vonona party, while those in opposition neighbourhoods were mostly empty.
• There was a low-key security presence across the capital.
• Initial voter turnout was around 30% in areas supporting the ruling party and a mere 15 to 20% in opposition strongholds, according to local election officials.
• Provisional results are expected to be released on Nov. 24, said Soava Andriamarotafika, a spokesperson for the Independent National Electoral Commission.
• Andry Rajoelina cast his ballot at a polling station in Ambatobe.

What they said

"A handful of people tried to prevent citizens from expressing their choice. They have the right not to participate but the populations have the right and the duty to vote," Andry Rajoelina said. "Madagascar needs democratic maturity. The only democratic way to get into power today, and I am fighting for it, is elections," he added after voting in Antananarivo's northern neighbourhood of Atmobe, flanked by his wife and children.