As the municipal and legislative elections approach, several civil society organizations are sounding the alarm and recalling with a certain vigor all the dysfunctions of the electoral process which marked the last presidential election. Certainly, a page has been turned after the acceptance of the result proclaimed by the HCC, but the shortcomings of this process are still there and the need to remedy them is clear. The problems that the signatories of the communiqué list need to be resolved and should not be ignored. It is a question, through these denunciations, of not letting the Executive rest on its laurels and of giving it the opportunity to rectify the situation.
The vigorous questioning of civil society
The entire population had a rather bad experience of last November’s election period. Civil society organizations and the candidates’ collective have continued to denounce the imposed process and demanded that it be overhauled. The vote took place in an atmosphere of violently repressed protest. It resulted in this re-election of President Andry Rajoelina. The international community took note of this, but made numerous recommendations so that the conditions for true appeasement are put in place. The government immediately set about forming a government capable of carrying out the head of state’s program, but it did not learn the lessons of this election. He is preparing for the next electoral events without taking into account the shortcomings of the process. The leitmotif of all civil society actors is the establishment of a transparent and fair election. They set out all the shortcomings that they observed and that the current authorities seem to want to ignore. They call on them to show foresight and not continue to ignore the mistakes made in the past. They warn them against the absence of an inclusive dialogue to ease social and political tensions.
Patrice RABE