Madagascar: Voter registration and voter's rolls prior to March 2010
Updated Junly 2010
The situation described below by Lucien Toulou prevailed until March 2010 when new legislation altered the situation. See Voter registration and voter's rolls for details.
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, 207-209.
Mira/Mide [Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reform] is responsible for undertaking voter registration and compiling the national voters' roll. Chapter II of the Electoral Code gives the rules by which the electoral list should be established and how it should be revised. The voters' roll in Madagascar is generally revised on an annual basis, from 1 December to 31 January of the following year. Both the constitution and the Electoral Code define the requirements for electoral franchise and voter registration. Every Malagasy citizen of 18 years or older is entitled to register and participate in the electoral process. Registration for elections is a voluntary exercise and those willing to register must be in possession of a valid identity card. The Electoral Code further states that the process of revision should give the possibility to all those who, for some reason or other, do not find their name on the list to have it put back. This includes persons who had recently turned 18 years, thus gaining the right to vote. The revision process also consists of eradicating the names of voters who are deceased, persons who have lost their right to vote, names of voters who have been ordered off the list by competent authorities, and those whose names unrightfully appear on the list.
Over time, voter registration has become one of the weaknesses of the electoral process in Madagascar, mainly because a census has not been conducted in the past decade therefore reducing the overall quality of the registration process. As regards the drawing up of the electoral register, the European Union Observer Mission to the 2002 legislative elections noticed that the revision of lists was not conducted consistently throughout the country. Many voters did not find their names on the lists on Election Day, which created confusion and delay. While the revision was generally carried out in a satisfactory manner in the major towns, the lack of resources and the very short deadline meant that most constituencies were unable to carry out the revision as it had been planned and announced by Mira. The original idea that voters should have an opportunity to review the lists did not always materialise, and the European Union Observer Mission inferred from its observation that the inaccuracy of electoral lists had a direct impact on requests for court orders and may have disrupted the smooth conduct of the 2002 legislative elections.
Since then, efforts have been made to improve the accuracy of voter lists and to encourage eligible voters to register. Mira has computerised the voters' lists on the basis of the 2006 presidential elections with the technical and financial assistance of the international community. The compilation of computerised voters' lists, labelled as the Liste Electorale Informatisée de Madagascar (Lenim), was aimed at encouraging potential eligible voters to register, while contributing to the compilation of accurate and user-friendly voters' lists.
The creation of Lenim had two main phases:
- The compilation of data from previous records and the printing of provisional lists to be dispatched to registration centres throughout the country and displayed for voters to check that their details are effectively and accurately recorded; and
- The revision and correction of lists on the basis of probable corrections and additions, as well as the printing of voter cards and definitive voters' lists to be used during the elections.
The special review of the voters' roll started on 11 May 2006 throughout the island and was concluded on 28 November 2006. The review was performed on the basis of the electoral list completed on 15 April 2006, which had to be ready 45 days before the Election Day. Final figures released by Mira indicated that a total of 7, 317,790 voters registered to participate in the December 2006 presidential elections. The lists were also reviewed for the April 2007 Referendum on the Constitution, while the registration process for the 2007 National Assembly elections was completed on 18 September 2007. Figures released by Mira suggested that a total of 7 466 164 voters were registered, which represents an increase of 1.49 per cent compared to the total number of 7 354 529 voters registered during the April 2007 Constitutional Referendum (see Voter registration 2007.