Didier Ratsiraka was elected to a seven-year term as president in a national referendum on 21 December 1975, confirming the mandate for consensus and inaugurating Madagascar's Second Republic.

According to this document, the primary goal of the newly renamed Democratic Republic of Madagascar was to build a "new society" founded on socialist principles and guided by the actions of the "five pillars of the revolution": the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC), peasants and workers, young intellectuals, women and the Popular Armed Forces.

"The socialist revolution," explains the Red Book, "is the only choice possible for us in order to achieve rapid economic and cultural development in an autonomous, humane, and harmonious manner."

Finally, the SRC ordered the closure of an earth satellite tracking station operated by the United States as part of its commitment to nonaligned foreign relations.

1989 marked a turning point due to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of one-party rule in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, similarly transforming electoral politics in Africa.

The result of these events was Ratsiraka's agreement on 31 October 1991 to support a process of democratic transition, complete with the formulation of a new constitution and the holding of free and fair multiparty elections.

Albert Zafy, the central leader of the opposition forces and a côtier of the Tsimihety ethnic group, played a critical role in this transition process and ultimately emerged as the first president of Madagascar's Third Republic.