141. The Applicants also note that the oath taken by members of the electoral body
before assuming duty is not sufficient to ensure credibility in their independence
and impartiality, in light of the overwhelming evidence of factors that undermine
such independence and impartiality.
142. The Applicants lastly argue that there still is an over-representation of the ruling
party
and
that therefore
the
necessary
“balanced
composition”
which
was
ordered by the Court has not been achieved. They note that several of the entities
which have the authority to propose members onto the electoral body are in fact
aligned with the government or, in other words, the ruling party. Accordingly, to
the complement
members
of the ruling
proposed
Administration,
by
the
the Higher
party’s three
President,
Judicial
the
Council
members,
should
Minister
in charge
and
National
the
be added
the
of Territorial
Human
Rights
Council. The government is therefore represented by seven (7) members against
four (4) for the opposition.
143. For the Applicants, even the most recent amendment of the law through the Order
N° 2020-306
of 4 March 2020
does not change
much
to this situation. They
contend that the majority of the members in the electoral body still represent the
government.
Therefore,
composition
and
undermine
an
they submit that their arguments
unjustifiable
the independence
politicization
of the
of the electoral body,
about an imbalanced
electoral
remain
body
which
valid despite the
change in the law.
144. The Applicants further note that whereas the Central Electoral Commission has
a more diverse composition, the electoral bodies at the Local levels are almost
entirely politicised.
145. The only non-overtly political actors are the members proposed by the prefects
(Regional
Commission)
and
by the sub-prefects
(Departmental
Commission).
However, the Applicants maintain that these entities are part of the government,
in the sense that they are the representatives of the President in the localities
where
they are called
upon
to discharge
their duties,
and
therefore
can
be
counted as representing the ruling party; thus creating a majority in the regional
31