CEP Regulations on Electoral Observers

The CEP's regulations on electoral observers, adopted under Constitution articles 191 and 191.2, the electoral decree of 2 March 2015 and the arrêté of 29 March 2016. They define an electoral observer as any person designated by a national or foreign institution accredited by the Council to observe the electoral process, and set the conditions of accreditation together with observers' rights and obligations during elections. Any body wishing to observe must apply to the CEP before deploying, and the Council may reject an application from an observation body that has failed obligations of honesty, integrity and independence.

Foreign observation missions apply through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs, which forwards the request to the Council under article 125 of the electoral decree. For national observers the CEP runs an online registration platform managed by the Electoral Registry Directorate; an accredited national organization may register its observers on the Council's website within the deadlines the Council announces in advance, with no registration accepted outside them, and up to a ceiling of two thousand observers per organization.

For each observer the organization supplies name, national identification card number, department, commune, town or communal section and, where applicable, the voting center and bureau; the bureau assignment may be changed by online registration, the change taking effect only for the current poll. Accreditation cards are issued by the CEP by assignment and carry the observer's photo taken from the electoral register.