Electoral Commission: its preparation process challengeable, its released results however not

Although all of the first round’s results are not yet completely known, the CENIT, the local electoral commission, decided to release the verdict. The latest 85 polling stations not yet accounted with cannot expect to tip any scale any more. 4 other ones are stricken off the checklist for lack of reports. Nothing is perfect, as the matter of fact, however, at least nothing is relevant enough to upset the current order of candidates on the first round’s finish line. Jean Louis Robinson, from the NY HAVANA party, actively supported by the Ravalomanana political sphere, leads the way with 21.12% and will be challenged by Hery Rajaonarimampianina from the HERY VAVAO party, the hope to the transitional leader, its ruling power and to the Rajoelina political sphere, with 15.92% of all votes.

A group of presidential candidates keeps on challenging the results the way they are though, blaming a potential error on the issues which have been undermining the preparation process. The group’s composition is made of many disillusioned candidates like Pierrot Rajaonarivelo, Jean Lahiniriko, Monja Roindefo, Camille Vital and Voninahitsy Jean Eugene, and other small scale candidates like Alain Tehindrazanarivelo and William Noelson. They will however find it extremely hard to put the request of the reenactment of the first round, following a cancellation of this one, through, considering the group as a whole merely gathers 15% of all votes.

First and foremost the number of voters held as missing in action on October 25th 2013 is the challenge being built on. The valuation of the vote apathy reaches up to 600 000 names failing to appear on the electoral register. The most daring figures put forth by politicians like Pety Rakotoniaina come up to 30% of due voters, in other words nearly 2.3 million people, kept off the list. The statistics produced by the INSTAT department reveals that the Malagasy nation has 10 million citizens aged 18 or more.

International partners were holding any new reprocessing of the electoral register as an unnecessary expenditure, so did the Electoral Commission as well at first. Yet, the mounting political pressure and the growing challenges prompted it to review its position on this issue. The voters left out of the electoral register up to presidential election’s first round will be allowed in, could money and time ever prove enough to achieve this performance. The CENIT does not want to turn away from its own electoral agents’ service, although it already proved how unsuited it was. “They are complete aliens to their operation areas, they merely knock at doors and know nothing about those living behind” complained a Fokontany chief.

Largely uninvolved into the Electoral Commission’s organization process, the Fokontany chiefs were merely order to do what was told to them. They did it quite poorly. They found no time to share electoral cards out, and did not bother to find any. Their involvement may not expect to get larger before the presidential election’s decisive round, for they are still only ordered to attend their unfinished business and eventually warn their respective districts’ Computing Centers about any issue.

Actually, the Electoral Commission does not buy the fact of voters having their electoral cards while missing from the electoral register at the same time. The likely key to this issue would be the allotment of voters per polling station. Some voters must have gone the wrong way, searched the wrong list in the wrong polling station. The explanation does not easily go down either, since each polling station has a figure clearly marked on the electoral card.