Themes & Issues by Country
Burkina Faso
In Burkina Faso, the counting and announcement of election results takes place sequentially. These two events of the electoral process are carried out by the CENI under the supervision of the courts: the Constitutional Council, the Council of State, and Administrative Courts. The counting takes place on Election Day after polling stations close and the last voter has finished voting. The counting is done immediately at the polling stations and a record of the results is prepared right away…
Chad
The process of vote counting and the proclamation of results are undoubtedly the moments which polarize the attention of all competing candidates in Chad. Therefore, they must be conducted on the basis of clear and well defined procedures and deadlines. In Chad, votes are counted immediately after the last voter has cast his/her ballot. Article 67 of the Electoral Code sates that votes shall be counted by a committee including all the members of the polling station and 4 overseers recruited among the voters of the polling station who are present and literate in either French or Arabic…
Mali
Article 92 of the 2006 electoral law determines the process of vote counting. The counting starts after the closing of polling stations. The signatures of people who voted are reviewed and the total number of voters is recorded. Overseers are designated from the members of the polling station and seated at several tables with at least four people present. In cases where several lists are competing, it is authorized to have representatives of each list designate their own overseers who should be equally divided, as much as possible, around the tables where the ballots are counted. In this case, the names of those who have been chosen as overseers must be given to the President of the polling station at least one hour before the closing of the station in order to compile the list of overseers for each table before the start of the counting process…
Mauritania
The “National Dialogue,” organized in 2012, led to the agreement to create a permanent National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) with a mandate to organize elections and consequently terminate the Ministry of Interior’s role as the main organizer of elections in Mauritania. The counting of votes and the proclamation of results is now different by law from how it was previously conducted by the Ministry of Interior. Before considering the new system of vote counting and proclamation of results, it is instructive to examine how the system was previously organized. We will look at five domains: the counting of votes, the centralization of results, the reinstating of nullified votes, the proclamation of results, and the publicizing of each polling station’s results…
Niger
Articles 86 to 90 of the Electoral Code determine the conditions under which votes are counted in Niger. Article 86 states, “the counting of votes shall begin immediately after the closing of the poll. It shall be steadily continued until its completion. The counting shall be public and conducted under the supervision of the President of the polling station. It must take place inside the polling station.” Article 87, on the other hand, exposes the details of the counting process: “the ballot box shall be opened, and the single ballots and or the envelopes counted in front of all members of the polling station, the delegates and the voters present.” During the counting process, the number of single ballot and/or envelopes is recorded. If they are higher or lower than the number of voters who signed the logs, this shall be consigned in the minutes…
Senegal
The counting of the votes in Senegal is conducted according to the provisions of the Electoral Code in a manner prescribed to guarantee the fairness and accuracy of the vote. Article LO.83 of the Electoral Code states that the votes are counted in the polling stations by the poll workers of the station, representatives of the National Independent Electoral Committee (CENA), representatives of political parties and coalitions of political parties, as well as local citizens authorized to oversee. Furthermore, the counting of votes is often conducted in the presence of national and international observers…
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