Madagascar's military announces seizure of state power

ANTANANARIVO -- Colonel Michael Randrianirina, a Malagasy military officer, announced on Tuesday that state power in Madagascar has been taken over by a military council comprising members of the army, gendarmerie and national police.

Randrianirina said the constitution has been suspended and new national structures established "to meet the aspirations of the Malagasy people."

He also announced the dissolution of key public institutions, including the Senate, the High Constitutional Court and the National Independent Electoral Commission.

On the same day, the National Assembly of Madagascar, the lower house of the country's bicameral parliament, voted to impeach President Andry Rajoelina during an extraordinary session in the capital, Antananarivo, despite the Presidency's earlier announcement that the assembly had been dissolved.