Twelve years after the adoption of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, scholars and policymakers are still pondering whether the regional document has had any actual effect. Based on case studies from Madagascar and Burkina Faso, this article demonstrates the Charter’s impact on political dynamics within both countries. By analysing contestations around the application of Article 25(4), which defines who is eligible to run in transitional elections, I show that various national and international actors (attempt to) use the Charter as a legal script to limit access to state power and restrict the electorate’s voting choices. That these attempts are highly contentious is evidence of the Charter’s effect. If it were seen as irrelevant, nobody would bother to contest it. I therefore suggest studying the effects of the Charter from a different analytical angle – that is, “bottom-up” – by focusing on the settings and places in which it is actually applied.

中文翻译：

---

区域规范的重要性：争议和《非洲宪章》对民主、选举和治理的国内影响

在《非洲民主、选举和治理宪章》通过十二年后，学者和决策者仍在思考该地区文件是否产生了任何实际效果。本文基于马达加斯加和布基纳法索的案例研究，展示了宪章对两国政治动态的影响。通过分析围绕第 25 条第 4 款（定义谁有资格参加过渡选举）的应用争论，我表明，各种国家和国际行为体（试图）使用宪章作为法律脚本来限制获得国家权力和限制选民的投票选择。这些尝试具有高度争议性，这证明了《宪章》的效果。如果它被视为无关紧要，没有人会费心去争论它。