Supporters among Ravalomanana's high-level Tiko staff established a group to promote his campaign, which he named "Tiako Iarivo" ("I Love Antananarivo"). The candidate spent over 700 million Malagasy francs on the campaign, drawn from the proceeds of his business and private donations. His campaign staff widely distributed promotional posters featuring the candidate's face, name and slogan, and handed out free Tiko yogurts and boxes of milk to the public. Ravalomanana's campaign posters often featured the Tiko logo and images of the candidate riding a bicycle laden with milk canisters to play on his image as a simple and poor farmer who, through intelligence, determination and responsible management, succeeded in developing a thriving business and would apply these same skills to develop the capital city. The Ravalomanana campaign received support on the basis of his evident success as a manager, his leadership in the Christian community and his non-alignment with Ratsiraka's AREMA party, as well as his relative youthfulness and physical attractiveness to female voters. The campaign opened on 2 November 1999, and by 8 November Ravalomanana held a led in the polls. In the 14 November municipal elections, Ravalomanana was elected mayor of Antananarivo with 45 per cent of the votes.