Editing Madagascar (section)

===Structure===
{{Main|Government of Madagascar|Cabinet of Madagascar}}
[[File:Antananarivo05.jpg|thumb|left|[[Antananarivo]] is the political and economic capital of Madagascar.]]
Madagascar is a [[semi-presidential system|semi-presidential]] [[representative democracy|representative democratic]] [[Diversity (politics)|multi-party]] republic, wherein the popularly elected president is the head of state and selects a [[Prime Minister of Madagascar|prime minister]], who recommends candidates to the president to form his cabinet of ministers. According to the [[Constitution of Madagascar|constitution]], executive power is exercised by the government while legislative power is vested in the ministerial cabinet,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mg.mofcom.gov.cn/article/chinanews/202110/20211003206640.shtml|title=Liste des institutions gouvernementales de Madagascar (août 2021)|website=mofcom.gov.cn|access-date=13 October 2021|archive-date=13 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211013121808/http://mg.mofcom.gov.cn/article/chinanews/202110/20211003206640.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Senate of Madagascar|Senate]] and the [[National Assembly of Madagascar|National Assembly]], although in reality these two latter bodies have very little power or legislative role. The constitution establishes independent executive, legislative and judicial branches and mandates a popularly elected president limited to three five-year terms.<ref name=BGNote/>

The public directly elects the president and the 151 members of the National Assembly to five-year terms. All 18 members of the Senate serve six-year terms, with 12 senators elected by local officials and 6 appointed by the president.

At the local level, the island's 23 regions are administered by a governor and regional council. Provinces are further subdivided into regions and communes. The judiciary is modeled on the French system, with a High Constitutional Court, High Court of Justice, Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, criminal tribunals, and tribunals of first instance.<ref name=justiceMada>Nalla (2010), pp. 122–128</ref> The courts, which adhere to [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]], lack the capacity to quickly and transparently try the cases in the judicial system, often forcing defendants to pass lengthy pretrial detentions in unsanitary and overcrowded prisons.<ref name=mediainfo/>

Antananarivo is the administrative capital and largest city of Madagascar.<ref name=BGNote/> It is located in the highlands region, near the geographic center of the island. King Andrianjaka founded Antananarivo as the capital of his Imerina Kingdom around 1610 or 1625 upon the site of a captured Vazimba capital on the hilltop of [[Twelve sacred hills of Imerina#Hill of Analamanga|Analamanga]].<ref name=vazimbadjp/> As Merina dominance expanded over neighboring Malagasy peoples in the early 19th century to establish the Kingdom of Madagascar, Antananarivo became the center of administration for virtually the entire island. In 1896 the French colonizers of Madagascar adopted the Merina capital as their center of colonial administration. The city remained the capital of Madagascar after regaining independence in 1960. In 2017, the capital's population was estimated at 1,391,433 inhabitants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/madagascar-population/cities/|title=Population of Cities in Madagascar (2017)|website=worldpopulationreview.com|access-date=27 February 2017|archive-date=15 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015204227/http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/madagascar-population/cities/|url-status=live}}</ref> The next largest cities are [[Antsirabe]] (500,000), [[Toamasina]] (450,000) and [[Mahajanga]] (400,000).<ref name=BGNote/>