Electoral law should be modified to allow for absentee voting for presidential elections for the Congolese Diaspora as well as voter registration from Congolese embassies abroad.

Parliament should impose financial penalties on parties and independent lists that do not present women as candidates and impose a strict gender parity on ballot papers.

Upper limit to campaign spending should be established to level playing field.

Supreme Court should demonstrate transparency, impartiality when ruling on disputes within electoral process.

Congolese people should make full use of their rights.

democratic institutions, parties and citizens must be assured that the necessary material, security and legal conditions for organizing legislative and local elections will be present in order to safeguard their inclusive nature

A bicameral system could effectively resolve tensions between populations centers and outlying regions.

A review of all deadlines would therefore be desirable, taking into account lessons learned from the presidential election

A streamlining process is necessary for the regulations pertaining to the presidential, legislative, and local elections in order to re-establish a coherent framework

Mechanisms for standard identification should be implemented as soon as possible in order to avoid wasting the considerable investment already made by the Ivorian State

The appeals process relating to the current voters list must be re-opened

A genuinely independent electoral institution of an essentially technical nature should be created.

A mechanism for CEI consultation and information with all the stakeholders in the election should be established

Greater attention should be paid to operational aspects which have been overlooked by the current commission. There should also be attention to deadlines for decision-making and coordination across different technical functions. The CEI should fully accept the role of coordinating operations and equip itself with the necessary human and administrative resources.

The role and responsibility of the local commissions of the CEI should be strengthened in order to ensure greater decentralization and efficiency in operational implementation. Their material resources should therefore be strengthened and the channels of information between the CEI and its local commissions should be systematized in both directions. A greater role for the local commissions should be envisaged in civic and voter education activities in their communities. This requires, among other elements, an initial training Endeavour

In the context of cooperation with international partners, clear rules concerning the eligibility of certain budget items should be established. Given the general situation of the Ivorian State, which appears to have sufficient resources to guarantee regular funding for elections, it would appear reasonable that the operating costs of the institution, and the payment of expenses allowed to staff of local commissions and polling stations, should be considered the sole responsibility of the State

It is recommended that reasonable deadlines should be set for the transmission and announcement of results. These deadlines should be established in light of the CEI commitment to transparency and enable greater efficiency in the management of the results process. To support a more equitable election petition process, the deadline for filing any appeals should be extended beyond the official announcement of the provisional results. It would also be useful to consider the possibility of giving the electoral commission a mandate to examine appeals at first instance and, in all cases, to establish the conditions in which material errors may be rectified

Côte d’Ivoire should also consider a more profound change leading to the establishment of a proper independent Constitutional Court. Judges should be selected from among independent magistrates according to objective criteria and their nominations would be ratified by a transparent and public procedure

local commissioners should have received more sustained communications from the CEI

The Carter Center emphasizes the need to establish, and implement, a regulatory framework for campaign finance in order to guarantee equitable conditions of competition

implement structural measures to ensure greater representation of women in political life

It is therefore important that constituency boundaries be reviewed in the light of international obligations and the constitutional principle of the equality of the vote

The Carter Center considers that the resources for strengthening the authority and structures of the electoral administration should be undertaken in the same way, and at the same time, as the revision of the legal framework. This strengthening should also aim to streamline and professionalize the institution, as well as to build confidence towards the institution by all stakeholders

Carter Center witnesses in Egypt observed low levels of participation among voters, political parties, candidates, media, and civil society organizations in the Shura Council election.

Carter Center witnesses reported an inconsistency in, and at times failure to comply with, the
application of electoral procedures by presiding judges at polling stations. This included, but was not
limited to, failure to ink the fingers of voters, late opening, and early closing of polls.