Parliamentary elections were held in Madagascar on 23 September 2007, with the vote to be repeated in two constituencies on 14 November 2007. 637 candidates contested the election, in which the 127 seats in the National Assembly were at stake. Background In Toliara Province on 20 July 2007, President Marc Ravalomanana announced he would soon dissolve the National Assembly, leading to an early parliamentary election. Speaking to the press on July 24, Ravalomanana cited the need to adapt to the situation under the constitutional changes passed earlier this year as grounds for dissolving parliament before the end of its term in May 2008. The decision was finally announced on 26 July 2007 after a Council of Ministers meeting; the ministers had agreed to reduce the number of parliamentarians from 160 to 127 to be elected in the 119 districts of Madagascar across the country. Campaign All candidacies had to be submitted by August 14. The High Constitutional Court released its official list of 1,542 validated candidates on August 23. The ruling Tiako I Madagasikara (TIM) was the only party with candidates in all constituencies; these candidates included only about a fifth of the TIM deputies in the previous National Assembly. About 20 of the deputies not nominated by TIM as candidates ran as independents instead; TIM President Razoarimihaja Solofonantenaina described them as "not serious challengers". Seven ministers in the government were nominated as TIM candidates: Yvan Randriasandratriniony, Minister near the Presidency in charge of Decentralization, in Fianarantsoa I; Koto Bernard, Minister of the Environment, in Ifanadiana; Robinson Jean Louis, Minister of Health, in Alaotra-Mangoro; Patrick Ramiaramanana, Minister of Energy, in Antananarivo I; Andriamparany Radavidson, Minister of Finance, in Antananarivo IV; Donat Olivier Andriamahefamparany, Minister of Mines, in Antananarivo V; and Harifidy Ramilison, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, in Fort-Dauphin. Many criticized the candidacies of these ministers because they were expected to remain in the government after the election, leaving their National Assembly seats to their substitutes. Another notable TIM candidate was former Prime Minister Jacques Sylla on Île Sainte-Marie. An alliance of opposition parties agreed to nominate a single candidate for each constituency, but although they reached a consensus on single candidates in some constituencies, in most cases they did not. One notable opposition candidate is Jean Lahiniriko, who was elected as a TIM candidate in the December 2002 parliamentary election and became President of the National Assembly before having a