Fears of electoral fraud chilling down the Opposition’s spine

The fear of an outbreak of electoral fraud does not seize the Opposition on no account. Already the presidential election’s first round happened to have been stained by many attempts to cheat, some of them caught red handed by the Special Electoral Court and sanctioned. As an example, Hery Rajaonarimampianina, the finalist now formally supported by transitional leader Andry Rajoelina, had to do without 5000 votes invalidated by the Electoral Court. Many more violations of the electoral law have been spotted and reported by many observers, still, neither recorded nor held into account by the same Court. Some electoral constituencies actually ironically recorded more names than inscribed voters, just like the rural constituency of Tsivory did, in the South East of Madagascar, which arguably had 4319 names in opposition to the Electoral Commission’s 8692 recorded voters. It was a mere sample of electoral fraud expected to boost a candidate’s performance, and in no way an isolated anomaly. This very real expectation of an avalanche of electoral frauds now prompts the Opposition to get a move on without delay. Former president Marc Ravalomanana himself committed to call upon the National Electoral Commission and the Special Electoral Court to keep a watchful eye wide open. This he did in the run of his latest phone call during a mass gathering with his supporters inside the Magro square in Behoririka.