MANZINI, Eswatini

Police in Madagascar fired tear gas at opposition candidates who were leading a protest in the capital Antananarivo on Monday ahead of presidential elections next month, AFP reported.

The candidates included incumbent President Andry Rajoelina’s bitter rival, former President Marc Ravalomanana, whose security team led him to safety during the pandemonium.

Tensions continue to escalate in the African island nation ahead of the Nov. 9 polls.

According to local news sources, 11 out of the 13 presidential candidates called on their followers to gather in the city’s central May 13 square to protest what they described on Sept. 12 as “an institutional coup d'état” engineered by Prime Minister Christian Ntsay, a close ally of Rajoelina, who is acting as interim president until a new president is sworn in after the elections.

The Malagasy opposition accuses the prime minister of orchestrating moves that give an undue advantage to Rajoelina to bounce back to office.

According to AFP, the president of the Senate was supposed to take over but declined, citing personal reasons. The alternative was to leave the task to a collegial government headed by Ntsay, Rajoelina’s political friend.

The country’s top court accepted the move, igniting the anger of the opposition.