Madagascar: Political party registration

Updated July 2010

The Malagasy Constitution 1992 (Article 14) guarantees the right to form associations, including political parties, subject to the law, prohibiting only those that promote totalitarianism or who advocate factionalism based on ethnic, tribal or religious grounds. This article further recognises that political parties contribute to the exercise of the franchise, and recognises the democratic right of opposition by minority opinions. Until the passage of Loi no 2009-002 relative aux partis politiques (Law No 2009-002 relating to the political parties) through Parliament in 2009 the political landscape was characterized by extreme fragmentation as the number of political parties proliferated to the extent that analysts became concerned that the multiparty electoral system itself was being destabilized (see Political party system for details). Loi no 2009-002 was explicitly intended to strengthen the multiparty system by reducing the number of political parties on the one hand and empowering those that remained on the other (Loi no 2009-002, "Expose des motifs"). The introduction of more rigorous party registration provisions in the new law is one of the means to these ends. Two provisions are especially significant in this respect:

  1. Only registered political parties may present candidates for election on the one hand and on the other registered parties are obliged to take part in elections. Parties that fail to nominate candidates in three consecutive direct universal suffrage elections (except presidential elections) are deregistered and disbanded by the Minister of the Interior (Loi no 2009-002, Article 25, 30).
  2. Existing political parties were required to register by following the procedures laid down by the new law and had a transitional period of twelve months from the publication of the law to comply or be disbanded (Loi no 2009-002, Article 40).

This effective outlawing of independent candidates seems to run contrary to the provision of Article 15 of the Constitution that recognises the right of citizens to stand as candidates for election regardless of their affiliation or non-affiliation with a political party.

Nature and role of parties

A political party is defined as an association of citizens, who share the same ideology and pursue the same goals, to promote and bring into effect a socio-economic programme aimed at the development of the nation through representation in governance institutions at national, regional and local levels; as such a party contributes to the shaping of public opinion and the exercise of the franchise in democratic and free elections, to civic education and to the mobilization of citizens to participate in public life (Loi no 2009-002, Article 2). Parties are required, through their objectives and activities, to (Loi no 2009-002, Article 5):

  • Defend democracy and national sovereignty.
  • Consolidate national independence.
  • Safeguard national unity and identity.
  • safeguard national integrity.
  • Maintain the republican form of the State.

Furthermore, a party may not discriminate on the basis of sex, level of education, class, geographic origin, race, physical capacity or religious belief (Loi no 2009-002, Article 6). A citizen of Madagascar may freely join or leave a party providing that the citizen is over eighteen and in possession of civil and political rights, but no citizen may be a member of more than one party at a time (Loi no 2009-002, Article 7).

Party registration process

Application for registration is made to the Ministry of the Interior and a receipt is issued for the application (Loi no 2009-002, Article 8). The Ministry has three months from the date of the application to either issue a party with a certificate or registration or to inform a party refused registration the reasons for the refusal; if a party is refused registration it may appeal to the relevant court (Loi no 2009-002, Article 9). If the Ministry fails to respond within three months the application is deemed to be successful and the Minister of the Interior has fifteen days to issue a certificate of registration; however, should the administration require further information of the political party the time limit is suspended until a reply is received (Loi no 2009-002, Article 10).

The application must be accompanied by (Loi no 2009-002, Article 11):

  • The constitution of the party
  • An official report of the constitutive general meeting, which must be made up of at least two hundred members, with a signed list of the participants.
  • The rules of procedure;
  • A list of the leaders of the party that are members of the national governing body. The list must have at least nine elected leaders and at least half of the members must representatives from at least six of the 22 regions.

The constitution submitted must include (Loi no 2009-002, Article 11(1.)):

  • The name of the party
  • The goal of the party
  • The address of the party and whether the premises was donated, is rented or is owned.
  • The party's insignia, colours and logos.
  • The rules for the constitution of the party's management and administrative structures and for their operation.
  • The requirements for membership admission and termination.
  • The modalities of national and regional meetings.
  • The procedures for amending the constitution.
  • The disposition of assets in the event of the party's dissolution

The names, insignia, initials and slogans of parties are protected and may not be used by other parties nor may forms of these similar enough to create confusion in the minds of voters be adopted and breakaway groups are expressly forbidden to adopt entire or partial forms of them (Loi no 2009-002, Article 13) . The list of party leaders must include the following information (Loi no 2009-002, Article 11(4.)):

  • Full names;
  • date and place of birth;
  • father's nationality;
  • profession;
  • address;
  • number, date and place of delivery of national card of identity;
  • office held in the party;
  • authenticated signature.

Party organization and functioning

The new law contains provisions regulating the organization and functioning of political parties. Parties must be organized into a national governing body, regional organs and local branches and have an executive committee, composed of leading members, and a consultative body (Loi no 2009-002, Article 14, 17). A leader elected to office at these levels must be (Loi no 2009-002, Article 15, 16):

  • a Malagasy national;
  • 21 years old
  • without a criminal record;
  • in possession of full civil and political rights; and
  • resident in the area governed by the body elected to.

Party deregistration and dissolution

According to Loi no 2009-002 a political party may be deregistered by the Ministry of the Interior if:

  • The party fails to make an annual declaration of its continued existence to the Ministry, fails to notify the Ministry of changes in the party or fails to establish regional and local divisions in 12 of the 22 regions within 30 months of its formation (Loi no 2009-002, Article 24).
  • The party creates or maintains a military or paramilitary organisation, or any other formation that threatens national unity, territorial integrity or public order and safety (Loi no 2009-002, Article 29).

Under certain circumstances a party may not only be deregistered, but also disbanded by the Ministry of the Interior (though such decisions are subject to judicial review). This is the case if a party (Loi no 2009-002, Article 30):

  • fails to hold a national congress at least once every three years (Article 18);
  • fails to take part in three consecutive direct universal suffrage elections (except presidential elections) in a row (Article 25);
  • fails to perform its duty to respect and adhere to the provisions of the national Constitution, laws and regulations and to take an active part in elevating the moral standard of public life (Article 26); or
  • engages in actions that promote racism, xenophobia or violence (Article 27. Members involved may also face criminal prosecution).

A party may also be dissolved by a merger with another party or be disbanded by its members through the procedures laid out in its Constitution (Loi no 2009-002, Article 30). In the case of parties merging, all the previous parties involved in the merger are dissolved, but the merger itself must be approved by the Ministry and is subject to the procedures laid down in the constitutions of the parties involved (Loi no 2009-002, Article 31).

References

CONSTITUTION 1992, [www] http://www.primature.gov.mg/webfiles/ Projet-Rev-Constitution.pdf [PDF document. opens new window] (accessed 15 Jun 2010).

LOI NO 2009-002 relative aux partis politiques, [www] http://ddata.over-blog.com/xxxyyy/1/35/48/78/Madagascar/loi-2009-sur-les-partis-politiques.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 14 Jun 2010).