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Election Management Bodies in West Africa A comparative study of the contribution of electoral commissions to the strengthening of democracy By Ismaila Madior Fall Mathias Hounkpe Adele L. Jinadu Pascal Kambale A review by AfriMAP and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa Copyright © 2011, Open Society Initiative for West Africa. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher. Published by: Open Society Foundations For more information contact: AfriMAP / Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) P O Box 678 Wits, 2050 Johannesburg, South Africa [email protected] www.afrimap. org Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) BP 008, Dakar-Fann, Dakar, Senegal www.osiwa.org Layout and printing: COMPRESS.dsl, South Africa Contents Preface v Methodology and acknowledgments vii 1 Overview: The contribution of electoral management bodies to credible elections in West Africa – Pascal Kambale 1 A. Introduction 1 B. Colonial legacy 2 C. Elections and constitutional reforms 3 D. Membership of EMBs and appointment of Electoral Commissioners 4 E. Independence and effectiveness 4 F. Common challenges to electoral management 8 G. Conclusion 9 H. Recommendations 10 2 Benin – Mathias Hounkpe 12 A. Summary 12 B. Historical background 13 C. The Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA) 19 D. Funding of elections in Benin 31 E. Electoral disputes in Benin 34 F. Critical assessment of the CENA’s performance 36 G. Recommendations 47 3 Cape Verde – Ismaila Madior Fall 49 A. Summary 49 B. Constitutional development, party politics and electoral history 51 C. Election management bodies: legal and institutional frameworks, powers and independence 58 D. Funding of elections in Cape Verde 65 E. Electoral disputes in Cape Verde 67 F. A critical assessment of the performance of EMBs in Cape Verde 67 G. Recommendations 74 4 Ghana – Mathias Hounkpe 76 A. Summary 76 B. The political development of Ghana 77 C. The Electoral Commission (EC) 81 D. Funding of elections in Ghana 92 E. Electoral disputes in Ghana 95 F. Critical evaluation of EC performance 96 G. Recommendations 106 5 Nigeria – Adele Jinadu 108 A. Summary 108 B. Constitutional development, party politics and electoral history 110 C. Nigeria’s electoral management body: History, structure and independence 117 D. Funding of elections in Nigeria 130 E. Electoral disputes in Nigeria 135 F. Assessment of electoral governance and process in Nigeria 145 G. Post-1999 debate on electoral governance in Nigeria 152 H. Recommendations 158 6 Senegal – Ismaila Madior Fall 162 A. Summary 162 B. Constitutional change, party politics and electoral history 163 C. Electoral management bodies in Senegal: Their status, powers and functioning 175 D. Funding of elections in Senegal 190 E. Electoral disputes in Senegal 192 F. A critical assessment of electoral governance in Senegal 194 G. Recommendations 207 7 Sierra Leone – Adele Jinadu 209 A. Summary 209 B. Historical context 210 C. Managing elections and regulating electoral politics: Institutional structures 215 D. Funding of elections in Sierra Leone 226 E. Electoral disputes in Sierra Leone 229 F. A critical assessment of electoral governance in Sierra Leone 230 G. Recommendations 243 About the authors 245 iv ELECTION MANAGEMENT BODIES IN WEST AFRICA Preface Electoral management bodies (EMBs) have become a keystone of the process of democ- ratisation in the countries of West Africa. Their composition, mandate and activities have attracted increasing public attention. In some countries, the EMBs and the rules of the electoral game are the focus of passionate interest and debate each time elections come around. In others, the debates around the EMBs are semi-permanent and attract attention even outside the electoral cycle. The lack of a clear understanding of the issues at stake in the design of these bodies has often led to the generation of more heat than light, while leading to proposals that do not address the real challenges at stake. This report thus responds to the evident need for more knowledge about an institution that occupies a more and more important place in the political process in West Africa. It is an in-depth study of EMBs in six countries of West Africa – Benin, Cape Verde, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone – based on documentary research and detailed interviews in each country. An introductory chapter, which draws also on a separate study by AfriMAP of election management in Uganda, provides a comparative analysis which highlights the similarities and differences in the structure and operations of each body, and attempts to establish the reasons for their comparative successes and failures. Each of the country’s study explores in detail the extent to which the EMBs fulfil their responsibilities, the degree to which they are independent of the executive, the effective- ness of their performance, and their contribution to the improvement of the quality of elec- tions and consequently the quality of democracy in each country, as well as the systems for adjudicating electoral disputes. The study situates EMBs in their broader context, taking account of their status as a product of the struggle for democracy in each case, their anchor- age in the constitutional traditions of each society, their place in the history of political reform and their interaction with the other institutions of each country. As institutions that apply the rules governing elections, EMBs are at the heart of dis- cussion and practice on the critical question of effective citizen participation in the public affairs of their countries. It is now two decades since EMBs independent of government under various guises first emerged in some countries of the region, or were the subject of serious reforms where they existed already. Since then, the way in which they are estab- lished and the effectiveness of their operations have continued to preoccupy those who PREFACE v advocate for competitive elections, while reforms to the EMB have taken centre stage in more general political reforms. The demand – achieved in some cases – by citizens, politi- cal actors and members of the governing class to have the right to oversee the functioning of these bodies is a measure of the critical role that they play in translating into fact the principles of transparency in democratic government. Yet often this oversight goes no further than the adoption of the formal rules for the composition and mandate of the EMB. The issues that make the real difference to the independence and effectiveness of the EMB, beyond the level of formal guarantees, are left unexamined. As a result, the ordinary citi- zen, and all the other protagonists in the political contest, often have only a limited knowl- edge of the impact that the formal structures of the EMB have or could have on the quality of democracy in the countries concerned. This study thus comes at an opportune moment for discussions of electoral reform. Its aim is to compare theory and practice of electoral management in countries with dif- ferent traditions and political cultures. From this point of view, the study offers an inter- esting overview of the socio-historical, institutional, and political context that allows a deeper understanding of EMBs in the west African context. Thus, the study both provides a detailed account of current situation, opening up the debate on the bodies charged with management of elections in the countries concerned, and also offers to citizens, political actors, governments and international institutions an evaluation of the issues at stake and recommendations for reforms that are necessary. It aims to be a tool to increase under- standing of the institutions and procedures governing elections and to encourage reforms in the management, oversight and credibility of the electoral process, to strengthen election observation, and to improve the management of electoral disputes. Methodology and acknowledgments The idea of carrying out a critical study of electoral management bodies and to evaluate their role in the organisation of credible elections in West Africa came from a series of consultations carried out from mid-2009 by AfriMAP, the Africa Governance Monitor- ing and Advocacy Project of the Open Society Foundations. In August 2009, AfriMAP co-organised, with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), a consultative work- shop on the elections and the role of civil society in West Africa. We would like to thank the following persons who represented at this meeting the bodies most active in electoral observation and electoral reform in West Africa: Aliyu Ahmadu of the Centre for Democ- racy and Development in Nigeria (CDD-Nigeria), Emmanuel Akwetey of the Institute for Democratic Governance in Ghana (IDEG), and Aboubacry Mbodj of the Rencontre africaine pour la défense des droits de l’homme in Senegal (RADDHO), as well as Achieng Akena and Ibrahima Kane, both of the AU advocacy programme of the Open Society Foundations. This meeting noted that despite their differences in political traditions the countries of the west African sub-region shared many similar challenges in relation to the holding of credible elections. Participants at the meeting noted that among the characteristics of elec- vi ELECTION MANAGEMENT BODIES IN WEST AFRICA tions in West Africa is the weakness of the institutional framework for their organisation, their vulnerability to open or hidden interference from political actors or the executive, and the inability to take action against electoral malpractice. The meeting concluded that a systematic study of the institutional framework for the organisation of elections in com- parative perspective would allow an examination of the reasons for these weaknesses and give decision-makers and activists a tool for reform of electoral practice based on reliable research.

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