The Electoral Commission could build on the success of the recent mobile voter registration exercise by reviewing the voter register as soon as practicable. This could include efforts to expunge anomalies from the database such as the details of deceased persons or corrections of clerical errors. A system to enable those eligible to register, or those that want to change their details, to do so on a continuing basis would ensure that management of the register is in line with legal provisions.

Extending the time period for parliamentary candidate registration would ensure nominees for parliamentary elections have adequate access to appeals and complaints mechanisms during the campaign period.

Positive measures introduced by political parties to ensure that women are encouraged to hold key positions within their decision making structures at all levels could enhance the role of women in political life. If deemed necessary legislative provisions related to any political party law could also include those for ensuring gender equality in the parties.

Clearer regulation and cataloguing of state resources during an election period, including vehicles or the publicly funded maize programme, would ensure they are not used for campaign purposes. Other measures, including a moratorium on ceremonial openings of public works by the presidential office and public officials for the period of the official campaign, would ensure a separation between the resources attached to public office and campaign activities. The prohibition on the use of state resources should be reflected in the Electoral Act and the exclusion from the prohibition for the president and vice-president should be narrowed.

The complete separation of civil servants from election campaigns of political parties would be strengthened by a statutory provision clearly stipulating that no civil servant including Permanent Secretaries and District Commissioners are allowed to participate in campaign activities. Appropriate guidelines for civil servants during election periods could be issued by a special committee to be established within the Public Service Management Division of the Cabinet Office.

More extensive and permanent voter and civic education would ensure that all citizens are informed and educated of both their rights as voters as well as registration and voting procedures. The Electoral Commission is in a good position to do this by building on its library of innovative material produced for these elections and ensure, in partnership with civil society organisations that this reaches all levels of the community.

There is a lack of an adequate regulatory environment for the broadcast media. Whilst respecting the principle of freedom of speech, a radio and television act developed in public consultation would provide a suitable framework for setting out programme standards and broadcaster obligations as well as provisions relating to media coverage of elections including equitable coverage obligations.

Consideration could be given to privatising elements of the state-owned media, including divesting all state interests in the two newspaper titles as well as interests in the news agency ZANIS that would increase the pluralism of the media sector.

The High Court has already ruled that the Electoral Commission was in breach of its constitutional obligation to provide access to disabled voters, deferring mandatory orders to comply with this ruling until later elections. This provides an adequate timeframe for the Electoral Commission to enhance and implement appropriate provisions for both disabled voters and polling staff, ensuring also that in the design and layout of polling stations and polling material full consideration be given to the needs of this part of the community in respect to having access to all stages of the electoral process.

A special court or judicial tribunal could be established to deal with pre-election complaints about nomination and the campaign and post election petitions about results. A time limit for dealing with these disputes could ensure that such matters are dealt with in a more expedious manner.

An increase in planning, inventory design and recording of delivery and arrival of electoral material systems, as well as addressing transport, logistics and human resource management issues, would better ensure the minor problems observed in these areas for the 2011 elections do not recur. Checklists could be introduced at all levels to create adequate inventory systems as well as assist polling station level staff manage processes.

The Electoral Commission should have a statutory power to cancel a result or adjust a result according to narrow criteria or apply to court for such an order.

The arrival of results and their aggregation at the centres would be made more transparent if they were projected in real time on localised screens. A greater number of operators with specialised training on this part of the process would also increase the efficacy of the collection of results. The Electoral Commission could review the procedures used during this stage of the electoral process with a view to improving delivery times and transparency of aggregation.

The new Congress should take into consideration the draft electoral code being prepared by the JNE which addresses a number of provisions that are currently inadequate. These include a need for more comprehensive provisions regulating political party alliances, a more inclusive interpretation of the validity of a vote, new deadlines for registering political parties whose acceptance process at the moment may overlap with the deadlines for registering candidates, overlap of the competencies of the National Jury of Elections (JNE) and the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) and procedures to be followed corresponding to provisions already foreseen in the law but whose procedures are lacking such as complaints’ proceedings regarding partiality of the media during electoral campaign.

ONPE could consider eliminating the sealing of the ballot papers in order to avoid unnecessary delays in the counting process.

It would be advisable to avoid the public announcement of exit polls on election day to eliminate eventual false expectations and potential unrest.

“Early voting” could be introduced to allow voters who are working on election day and on the election itself, such as police and armed forces, journalists and observers, to cast their ballot.

In remote areas, the electoral institutions could consider either establishing polling stations closer to voters, even if they have a reduced number of voters, or the possibility of mobile polling stations to avoid that voters walk or travel long distances and to bring voting, being mandatory, closer to the voter.

The media must clearly distinguish between opinion and information. Expressing political preferences outside of opinion columns, even in the private media, is against basic rules of journalism and democratic principles.

Insufficiently detailed media-related provisions of the election law should be clarified in consultation with journalists, editors and social communicators in order to make the regulatory framework more effective and enforceable. The regulatory framework could be further enhanced by establishing a more effective mechanism to ensure compliance with and enforcement of media regulations.

New instruments should be introduced to set out the mandate and responsibilities of state owned broadcasters, and their independence. The public media law project announced in the third complementary disposition of the Radio and Television Law and elaborated by the Radio and Television Advisory Council (CONCORTV) should be discussed by Congress. Such a law would improve the existing regulations on public media, currently insufficiently detailed.

The Constitution should be amended to allow for independent candidates to run for office, in conformity with international principles for democratic elections.

Any future amendments to election legislation should be enacted sufficiently in advance of elections to provide political parties, candidates and voters adequate time to become informed of the rules of the election process. Electoral legal framework adopted shortly before the elections undermines the legitimacy of the legislation and prevents related stakeholders from becoming informed in a timely manner of the rules of the election process, in accordance with the Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Section 180(2A) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, should be revised in order to disallow any candidate whose role at the election has been adjudged by the courts/tribunals as fraudulent to take part in the re-run election.

The Electoral Act should provide specifically for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) that would address the issue of voluminous and protracted litigation. The constitutions of political parties should include the ADR procedure clearly to avoid emasculation of party members.