Madagascar’s electoral commission launched a full reconstruction of its voter registry on July 28, 2026, a census operation that will run through April 2027 and serve as the operational foundation for both a constitutional referendum and a presidential election scheduled for October 2027.
The Commission électorale nationale indépendante (Céni) is driving the overhaul after years of challenges to the integrity of its core records. The current electoral file holds just over 14 million registered voters, but Thierry Rakotonarivo, president of the Céni, was direct about its condition. “The list is no longer credible,” he said. “It has been contested by the population because of the existence of duplicates. There are also millions of identical national identity card numbers and phantom voters created through the use of electoral ordinances.” Every election the Céni has organized has faced legal and political challenges, a pattern that makes the reliability of this rebuild consequential.
Additional reference context is available at https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20260728-madagascar-d%C3%A9but-d-un-recensement-pr%C3%A9lude-au-r%C3%A9f%C3%A9rendum-constitutionnel-et-%C3%A0-la-pr%C3%A9sidentielle.
The census will operate across three channels simultaneously: household visits by registration agents, enrollment at fokontany (Madagascar’s smallest administrative subdivisions), and online registration platforms. The aim is a single updated database capturing all Malagasy citizens of voting age.
Meanwhile, broader institutional reform of the Céni itself remains stalled, and the reasons are structural. Rakotonarivo explained that restructuring the commission and revising electoral law cannot proceed until a national consultation process determines Madagascar’s new constitutional framework. “The current power does not have the competence to decide alone,” he said. “This must wait for the decision of the Malagasy people, who are sovereign. If we take the decision now without popular consultation, it will be a unilateral decision by the authorities and it will not be legitimate.”
The governance gaps Rakotonarivo identified are specific. The commission needs stronger financial independence, greater authority over candidate deposit requirements, and, most critically, direct control over the electoral calendar. At present, the Céni proposes a schedule but the government retains final authority to set election dates. The recent replacement of all permanent bureau members at the Céni represents an initial step toward reform, though Rakotonarivo acknowledged it falls short of comprehensive restructuring.
The national consultation, which will be managed by Christian church organizations, has no announced start date. That scheduling gap is the central operational risk: if the consultation concludes too late, there will be insufficient time to implement electoral governance reforms before the October 2027 presidential vote. The Céni’s reform was included in the transition program submitted to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in February, signaling that regional bodies are watching Madagascar’s electoral infrastructure closely.
Some potential presidential candidates have expressed openness to a separate political dialogue aimed at establishing election conditions independently of the broader national consultation. Whether that parallel track would accelerate institutional change or add another layer of complexity to an already compressed timeline is the question the Céni’s planners will have to answer as the census moves forward.