Jacques Hugues Sylla (22 July 1946 – 26 December 2009) was a Malagasy politician. He was the Prime Minister of Madagascar under President Marc Ravalomanana from February 2002 to January 2007. He subsequently served as the President of the National Assembly of Madagascar from October 2007 to March 2009.
Life and career
Sylla was born on 22 July 1946 on the island of Sainte-Marie, Analanjirofo, off the east coast of Madagascar. He was the son of Albert Sylla, who served as Foreign Minister under Madagascar's first President, Philibert Tsiranana, until being killed in a plane crash in July 1967.
Sylla backed Ravalomanana in the crisis that followed the December 2001 presidential election After Ravalomanana was sworn in for a second time in early May, Sylla was reappointed as Prime Minister on May 9.
Later in 2002, Sylla became the Secretary General of the ruling Tiako I Madagasikara (TIM) party;
In the September 2007 parliamentary election, Sylla stood as a TIM candidate in the Sainte-Marie constituency, winning with 51.04% of the vote according to provisional results.
As President of the National Assembly, Sylla was an ex officio member of the national political bureau of TIM and therefore remained on the political bureau at TIM's May 2008 congress.
Sylla was a Catholic, Subsequently, at an opposition rally on March 14, 2009, Sylla announced that he was joining the opposition and said that Ravalomanana should resign; according to Sylla, that was the only solution and "as President of the National Assembly, I have to recognise reality." He ostensibly did so in the spirit of the Maputo agreement between Malagasy political leaders, which called for the creation of a national unity government,