Operation National Identification Card: risks of pre electoral irregularities

The launching of the operation national identification card was a success. “In the Commune of Miary, people have made the move on”, argued the Home Affairs secretary with satisfaction. “The making of an identification card is free from charges and the photo is not necessarily affordable, but this operation is a real opportunity “, added Cécile Manorohanta. As far as she is concerned, such a success has its source in the absence of charges. The incentive is not necessarily political even though the administration’s opened goal remains the integration of new voters in the system.  

The concept of mobile box office has been put to the test in Tulear II. People are turned into citizens by series of processes managed by various concerned authorities on a single location. Fokontany chiefs deliver residence certificates, a physician is stepping into action in case of doubt about somebody’s biologic age, and checks up whether the claimant is effectively aged 18 or more, a detail potentially missed by the photographer who previously freely provided photos.  

The mayor and an administrative officer are caring about birth certificate copies, together with assisting secretaries. The leading role is entitled to the district’s chief who has endorsed the magistrate’s suit and prerogatives. The state representative in the smallest decentralized Commune has the authority to sign the judgment which provides an adult individual with an official identity. A clerk’s signature validates this document. Census agents are receiving demands from those still deprived of national identification card. These claimants are producing a declaration on honor, and appear with a couple of witnesses to prove their identity.  

The system looks well lubricated, but there is still a long way to go before proving its reliability. This national identification card operation has, so far, shut no doors to pre electoral irregularities. The requirement of two witnesses does not pledge an identity’s genuineness. Many observers fear ill willed citizens led creation of fake voters. On the political plan, the occasion to replicate voters, virtual or not, is second to none. And since the Rajoelina administration is intending to integrate less the half of the 3,5 millions citizens deprived from identification card, whom will be in, and whom will be left out?  

Technically speaking, launching the operation national identification card before the announced census is definitely a cause for doubts. The census will be influenced by the addition of some 1,5 million new citizens. The voters’ list will consequently be significantly extended. Such an operation serves the HAT president’s will to integrate voters previously left out of the system. Will this brand new electorate most likely devoted to the Rajoelina mobility be able to legitimize poll’s results for so much? At worse, it might contribute to ruin the unilateral process’ remains of reputation as an unprecedented way to tamper voters’ lists