Mialy Rajoelina | |
Office1: | First Lady of Madagascar |
Term Label1: | Assumed role |
Term Start1: | 16 December 2023 |
President1: | Andry Rajoelina |
Term Label2: | In role |
Term Start2: | 19 January 2019 |
Term End2: | 9 September 2023 |
President2: | Andry Rajoelina |
Predecessor2: | Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina |
Term Label3: | In role |
Term Start3: | 17 March 2009 |
Term End3: | 25 January 2014 |
President3: | Andry Rajoelina |
Predecessor3: | Lalao Ravalomanana |
Successor3: | Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina |
Birth Name: | Mialy Razakandisa |
Party: | Young Malagasies Determined |
Children: | 3 |
Alma Mater: | Conservatoire national des arts et métiers |
Residence: | Iavoloha Palace |
Citizenship: | Malagasy, French |
Mialy Razakandisa Rajoelina (born Mialy Razakandisa) is the first lady of Madagascar as wife of President Andry Rajoelina.[1] She previously held the role of first lady during her husband's presidency of the High Transitional Authority of Madagascar from 2009 to 2014 and during his presidency of Madagascar from 2019 to 2023.
Mialy Razakandisa Rajoelina, the eldest of three girls,[2] holds a master's degree in finance and accounting management from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris. In 1994, Mialy met her future husband, Andry Rajoelina, at a high school in Antananarivo. The couple maintained a long-distance relationship for six years while Mialy completed her studies in Paris and Andry started his career as an entrepreneur. They reunited in Madagascar in 2000 and married later that year. Mialy and Andry have three children together: two sons named Arena (born 2002) and Ilontsoa (born 2005), and a daughter born in 2007 named Andrialy, a combination of their own names.[3]
Mialy's marriage to Andry provided him with the opportunity to lead Doma Pub, a company owned by Mialy's family, where he ventured into the local advertising hoarding market and began his career as an entrepreneur.[4] During the 2009 crisis
Mialy has made frequent public appearances, such as when she spoke at a TED Talks in Antananarivo in 2011.[5] Since her husband has become president Mialy has founded the FITIA association, which aims to collect donations and offer them the most vulnerable in Madagascar, especially women. Supporters of Mialy and her husband say that the FITIA show that the couple care for Madagascar and its people while opponents say that the organization is a propaganda campaign aimed at increasing their popularity.[6] Mialy has admitted to using her popularity to help her husband although she also adds that she sees nothing wrong with it and that people who support her usually support her husband as well.[2] She is the president and spokesperson of Fitia, a humanitarian association aiming at helping the poor and the sick. She was the youngest first lady Madagascar has ever had.[7]
Like her husband, Mialy is a Roman Catholic, in April 2013 she and Andry met with Pope Francis to become the first African leader and first lady to be received by the new pope at that time.[8]