The Madagascar electoral commission has announced that former president Andry Rajoelina has won the election though allegations of fraud have haunted the race.

On Thursday December 27, the electoral commission stated that Rajoelina got over 55 percent of the votes against the ex-president's predecessor Marc Ravalomanana who got 44.34 percent of the votes. Following the results, Ravalomanana has declared that "massive fraud" took place during this election.

BBCreports that in the first round of elections Mr Rajoelina had 39% of the vote while Mr Ravalomanana had 35% of the votes. While in the second round there was a larger gap between the candidates, the race remained close. However, this is not the first time that the two wealthy candidates are going against each other. In 2009, Mr Rajoelina forced Mr Ravalomanana out of power backed by the army. This led to Mr Rajoelina presidency from 2009 to 2014.

In eight days the constitutional court will declare the final results.