2023-06-09 08:38:19
Will there finally be a presidential election this year? Doubt is now allowed with, in particular, this decision taken by the Council of Ministers not to proceed with the rectification of the 2023 finance law, despite the numerous declarations by members of the government on the holding of this election this year. Theoretically, the decision in the Council of Ministers, under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, means that there will be no possible addition to the budget allocated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) for the organization of the presidential election which should take place this year.
The initial 2023 finance law provided for an envelope of 40 billion Ar for the presidential election. An amount deemed insufficient by the CENI for the organization of the two rounds of the presidential election, the CENI having counted on a budget of 140 billion Ar. After a discussion between the CENI and the Executive, the budget proposed by the CENI was halved. It was thus expected that this amount would be included in the context of the amending finance law (LFR) but obviously this will not be the case.
Reached by telephone, the president of the CENI, Arsène Dama, remained skeptical.
« I hope there will be a solution for the elections “, he launched, before acknowledging that he is not yet informed of this situation and that he should speak with the various officials. He pulled himself together afterwards and affirmed that the State is not the only one able to finance the organization of the elections but there are also the technical and financial partners (PTF).
However, the usual donors do not seem to be in a hurry to act in this direction. The European Union, for example, has already announced that it is ready to support, but its participation will remain marginal.
Asked about the subject by journalists on the sidelines of the question and answer session with the deputies in Tsimbazaza, which was postponed for a reason, once again mysterious despite the presence of the Prime Minister and ministers on site, the Minister of Interior and Decentralization, Justin Tokely, said that the electoral budget will be finalized shortly and that it is the duty of the State to finance the elections.
#budget #organizing #presidential #election