CEP Resolution on the tabulation of votes in the ASEC and CASEC elections of 29 January 2017

A resolution of the CEP on the tabulation of the ASEC and CASEC elections of 29 January 2017. The problem it addresses is a mismatch between ballot papers and territory. Under article 243 of the electoral decree of 2 March 2015, pending a new territorial division defining the communal sections of urban areas, elections to the communal-section assemblies and for city delegates to the municipal assemblies are organized on the division in force; and under article 136 of the same decree, voters in urban areas may vote only for city delegates.

At the elections of 29 January 2017, ballots for the ASEC and CASEC races were nonetheless used in voting centers located in communal sections extending into urban areas. Holding that it must correct this and ensure compliance with the decree in force, the Council resolved to set aside the ballots used in voting bureaux placed in urban areas for the ASEC and CASEC elections, to declare them null and of no effect so that they would not be counted in the results for the communal sections concerned, listed in a companion document, and to order the Executive Director and the Director of the Vote Tabulation Centre to take all measures for immediate application. The resolution is signed by the nine councillors.