The legal value of party agents' signature of the results forms should be clarified, taking into accounts the consequences on both the validity of these results and the possibility for political parties to reject them later in the process

The introduction of a permanent voter register is a major improvement. The NEC and the Commune Councils must ensure that the register is properly updated every year. The
NEC and commune councils should strengthen voter education before and during the annual updating of the register in order to enable as many eligible voters as possible to
register.

The NEC and Commune Councils should make sure that registered voters are provided with photo IDs required for voting. Although more expensive, Polaroid cameras could be
used

The role of Village Chiefs, their appointment, responsibilities and dismissal should be defined. Although Article 30 of the Law on Commune Administration foresees that the
Minister of Interior issues guidelines on the qualification required, such guidelines have yet to be issued.

Though the NEC Regulations have enhanced political parties' access to the media, a longterm process is necessary to create a culture of pluralism that would lead to an
environment favourable to the conduct of democratic elections. Therefore the general environment of the media should be strengthened.

The state media still showed an imbalance in favour of the CPP in as much as many of the reported Government activities related almost entirely to the Prime Minister. To correct this situation a system should be envisaged in order to secure media coverage also for other parties of the ruling coalition as well as parliamentary parties not present in the government.

The imbalance in the private media goes back to the issue of granting broadcasting licences. These are mainly weighed in favour of CPP. At present the Ministry of
Information grants the licence after it is cleared by the Ministry of Communications. In order to make this system fairer and subject to public scrutiny, a Parliamentary
Committee for the Media could be established. Its advice would be required before granting the licences. Legislation would have to be enacted to this effect.

The above mentioned civil registry and citizen identity cards shall be the basis of permanent and more easily updated voter lists (padrón electoral).

Some institutional mechanisms for public information shall be created at the TSE in order for the electoral authorities to perform more transparently and responsively
before the party representatives and the citizens. According to widely shared democratic standards, this would include the following: a) making the law unambiguous in that the TSE shall hand out a copy of voter lists to Parties and Candidates enough in advance of elections day so that they can use voter lists for their political work., b) setting public information procedures at the TSE whereby political parties and citizens can be ensured that they have access to relevant
information on the handling of complaints related to voter and candidate registration as well as election results.

The electoral calendar could be modified so that general elections are not held during the Christmas and crop season. Both factors are by themselves and for different reasons unfavorable to voter mobilization. The fact that the current electoral calendar is largely tied by constitutional provisions should not deter taking into consideration other alternatives on the timing for elections; including the possibility for a second round held before Christmas day without having to modify the current constitutional framework (i.e. from earlier in November until a week before Christmas if there is a second round). It goes without saying that this latter alternative does not write off the crop season obstacle.

In view of the potential for conflict around municipal elections, and the fact that current electoral law facilitates the election of mayors and the formation of governing majorities without the support of a majority of voters (such would be the case in one out of every four municipal councils), it seems advisable to open the public debate on the convenience of maintaining or changing the current formula of representation at municipal elections. The current formula allows for a party list obtaining a plurality to get the mayor and an absolute majority in the council. In a highly fragmented party system with stronger local than national bases, this formula discourages pre-electoral coalitions and post-electoral negotiation for governance; therefore encouraging the opposition to play municipal politics “from the street” rather than within the council. The current formula may have originally been designed to facilitate governance through easy formation of governing majorities, but as time passed the actual outcome may be working against the original purpose of the law. In connection with this issue, the EOM has elaborated relevant statistics based on the electoral results, which may be handed out to the TSE.

The Mission would recommend the adoption of a general electoral law that could be used for every election with small “ad hoc” additional added updates (if required) for each particular electoral contest. In this new law electoral deadlines as a whole and namely those regarding the presentation of candidates and party lists, the assessment of candidatures, the issuing of the number of mandates and the final candidates list will currently have to be reassessed so that they are in line with the real standards and
conditions of the country.

The re-qualification of invalid votes should be done in a first instance at the intermediate level in order to facilitate the final results tabulation.

Better and clearer channels of communication between CNE and STAE and between them and the other levels of administration of these institutions.

An administrative structure within CNE should be created to deal with complaints.

The preparation in advance of a comprehensive logistical plan for the elections and a contingency plan ready to face the possibility of extending the polling. Next elections
will cover the whole country to the most remote rural places.

Currently, there is one database in software MS Access for each province. This is neither sustainable nor efficient. The database should be unified. The centralized data base
should be fully operational latest May 2004.

The public and political parties should be allowed to check the electronic voters list before they are ready for distribution to the CDEs and polling stations.

The electoral administration should give clear and timely information to the public on all the steps of the electoral process; this should include openness when failures or errors occur.

To allow the presence of party delegates at the intermediate tabulation and of observers and party delegates at the sending procedures of intermediate results

To allow the presence of delegates of political parties and observers at the tabulation process at the central level. Observers can not be limited to a focal room where they only can follow the input of votes in a screen. Credible observation is only possible by moving freely around the computer room as well as having the right to put questions to
the data technicians in order to follow up the process in line with international practice.

Guarantee the free movement of observers in the whole country as established in the law by issuing accreditations with no geographical restriction

The launching of a permanent Website by CNE where the electoral results, instructions and decisions could be published and accessible for the public would contribute to higher credibility in the electoral authorities and the electoral process as a whole

The serial number that every ballot slip has should be removed in order to maximize voter’s rights to secrecy. The number allows identifying who vote for whom and thus
violates the secrecy of voting in case where a recounting might be undertaken.

Finally, and even though no particular problems were observed, it would be advisable to train the police officers about their role in the electoral contest, as it happened in 1994.