2023-07-13 07:43:56
The government has just increased the deposit to be paid by the candidates for the next presidential election to 200 million MGA. Despite this provocative figure in the Malagasy context, this decision is not devoid of interest and legitimacy. On the one hand, it is normal for the candidates to contribute to the organizational costs other than symbolically. In addition, a deposit of a relatively accessible amount does not sufficiently filter those who dream of a national destiny, including those who have three or four ideas drawn from their readings on Wikipedia or Facebook forums. The 200 million MGA will therefore have the first beneficial effect of dismissing a certain number of eccentric candidates as we have seen for several elections. Especially since Wagner’s problems will probably dry up the taps that some Malagasy candidates had taken advantage of in 2018…
There is, however, a perverse effect: this can effectively rule out valuable candidates who would not have succeeded in raising the necessary funds. However, let’s be lucid and realistic: given the budget volume now required to conduct an electoral campaign, how could a potential candidate who will suffer as soon as the 200 million MGA for the deposit come out have a campaign budget strong enough not to make up the numbers? Since the 2001 presidential election, the budgets required to conduct a campaign that has any chance of being successful have become disproportionate in the Malagasy context. It’s not just about the deposit, but about the budget for logistics to cover the 119 districts (planes, helicopters, 4x4s, trucks…), communication (TV spots, printing of posters, without forgetting felaka for journalists), goodies (t-shirts, bowls and other packages of PPN) etc. Consequently, a candidate who only has the means to pale in comparison with the more fortunate competitors will unfortunately only be for him and his supporters an illusion, whatever the qualities of his ideas and his program. A candidate capable of campaigning only in his living room or his fokontany is only a booby trap in the context of a national election.
Unfortunately, this context is establishing Madagascar in a plutocracy, which further distances democracy. In this, equality between human beings is an accepted principle, even if its application leaves something to be desired. In a plutocracy, worthy but penniless men and women will have less and less space to make their voices heard. Corruption will ensure that Justice and Truth are variable in geometry, to the benefit of those who have the means to impose variations. And this, including in Electoral Justice.
Plutocracy: System in which political power is vested in the holders of wealth (source: Larousse dictionary).
Still in the name of lucidity, let us emphasize that there is no guarantee that those who can line up the 200 million will be quality candidates. On the contrary, in a context where the limitation of campaign funds is absent and the tracing of their origin rather vague, one can wonder if this guarantee will not be a means of favoring the enriched without cause and the colleagues of Ming Li Foo the launderer. Except that this one only bleached sheets in Lucky Luke’s albums.
Someone of dubious fortune may allow legitimate questions about his morality and integrity. What is the probability that a gluttonous raptor before coming to power becomes a reasonable dove once it settles there? These are not the examples that are missing in the history of the country. Starting with those who came to power in the dynamics of a coup d’etat, and who skilfully took advantage of the situation of lawlessness that this generated to fill their pockets, coffers and accounts in discreet banks abroad. When we see the real estate heritage of certain hierarchs since 2009, we understand that many compatriots are tempted to lower themselves to play politics.
#Bail #million #MGA #plutocracy #filter