2023-09-26 08:39:00
In view of the 2026 general elections, the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (CENA) has assessed the state of voting materials available after the last elections. The evaluation concluded that it was necessary to renew a large part of the ballot boxes, voting booths and other heavy equipment used during the polls.
Thousands of ballot boxes, as many voting booths and hundreds of metal canteens remain stored in town halls, police stations as well as at the CENA, after the legislative elections of January 2023. This is the conclusion of the report of the inventory of electoral materials carried out in March 2023 and presented by the CENA, Monday September 25, to various stakeholders including deputies, prefects and political party leaders.
According to Rufin Domingo, director of equipment and operations at CENA, in three years, for the first general elections, the Electoral Commission will have to make new acquisitions to replace defective equipment while others can be reused:
“Several observations are observed, the urns available in stock are aging and for the vast majority have lost their transparent character to become translucent. Voting booths made of wood do not withstand climatic conditions for more than two years and their stock needs to be renewed. Canteens, not only have they become obsolete but they will be very cumbersome in the event of combined elections.”
Support for successful elections in 2026
The 2026 general elections will take place in two stages. First, the legislative and municipal elections in January, then the presidential election in April. A first experience which will require significant logistics and for which the president of the CENA requests the support of various actors.
“From the prefects and the president of the National Association of Communes of Benin, we expect support to improve the conditions of storage and security of equipment (…). From the National Assembly and the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, we are requesting an improvement in the financial means for the acquisition of equipment through the vote of a substantial investment budget spread over the years in order to respond to the requirements of coupled elections”said Sacca Lafia.
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