Madagascar: Voter and civic education

Updated July 2010

Décret no 2010-120 of March 2010, Article 2, made voter and civic education one of the four main functions of the newly created National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI, Commission Electorale Nationale Indépendante), which had previously been undertaken by the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform and the National Electoral Council (CNE, Conseil National Electoral; this body was abolished). Article 22 of the Decree specifies that CENI activities aimed at sensitising and educating citizens about elections should be undertaken in partnerships formed with civil society organisations (CSOs).

Moreover, CSOs involved in voter and civic education are entitled to nominate one of the ten CSO members that sit on the 19 member CENI, who is also one of the 12 voting members (Décret no 2010-120, 5). The person nominated is also eligible for election to the three person national board, made up exclusively from CSO representatives, that directs the work of the CENI (Décret no 2010-120, 13, 43). The 22 Regional Electoral Commissions also each include a nominee of CSOs involved in voter and civic education as one of seven nominated by CSOs to the 10 member Regional Electoral Commissions (Décret no 2010-120, 47). The CSOs involved in voter and civic education are also eligible for membership of the lower level District and Commune Electoral Commissions (Décret no 2010-120, 52, 55).

Past civil society involvement

Extracted from: Lucien Toulou 2009 "Chapter 6: Madagascar" IN Denis Kadima and Susan Booysen (eds) Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa 1989-2009: 20 Years of Multiparty Democracy, EISA, Johannesburg, 196-198.

As for civil society involvement in the electoral process, a number of local CSOs are involved in civic education and electoral information programmes. They are very active in familiarising the electorate with relevant legal provisions and sensitising voters to participate in the elections, particularly in informing the voters on when, where and how to vote. Those organisations include:

• FFKM (Conseil National des Eglises Oecumeniques or National Council of Ecumenical Churches), composed of the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the Church of Jesus Christ;
• Justice et Paix (Justice and Peace), a Catholic organisation; and
• KMF-CNOE (Comité National pour l'Observation de Elections or National Committee for Election Observation), a consortium of NGOs.

References

DÉCRET NO 2010-120 fixant l'organisation, le fonctionnement et les attributions de la Commission Electorale Nationale Indépendant, [www] http://aceproject.org/ero-en/regions/africa/MG/madagascar-decret-no-2010-120-2010-in-french/at_download/file [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 1 Jul 2010).