The Chief Justice, Attorney General and Chief Registrar are key actors in today’s court session.

As the Supreme Court sits in as the Constitutional Council this Friday October 21 to announce the results of the October 9 presidential election, focus will be on three personalities of the country’s judicial system. These are the Chief Justice of the Supreme who is to proclaim the results, the Attorney General and Chief Registrar to participate in the programme.

The programme of today’s court session shows that senior State functionaries like the Speaker of the National Assembly, Prime Minister, Head of Government, Vice Prime Ministers, Ministers and other officials ranking as such and members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of international organisations as well as other guests, will be in attendance.

What the Law Says

According to the law of September 17, 1992 laying down the conditions governing the vacancy of and election to the Presidency of the Republic, which law conforms with the legal framework applicable in the 2011 presidential election published by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, it is the Constitutional Council to announce the results of the election. In Section 98 of law, “The Constitutional Council shall adopt and announce the results of the presidential election within fifteen (15) days following the closure of polling operations.”

Between Polling and Announcing Results

After polling, the National Vote Counting Commission ensured the final counting of votes on the basis of reports and appended documents submitted by the Divisional Supervisory Commission. Its role, contained in paragraph two of the of Law n° 2011/002 of 6 May, 2011 to amend and supplement certain provisions of Law n° 92-10 of 17 September 1992 to lay down conditions governing the vacancy of and election to the Presidency of the Republic, consisted in correcting any material errors in the counting of votes. After the operation, a report, signed by the Chairperson and Commission members, and appended documents were forwarded to the Constitutional Council. The report, in other words, the final results, globally, at the level of each region, Division and Sub-division, will be made public in today’s solemn court session.

How Are the Results Published?

Section 100 of the law states that, “The results of the election shall be published according to the procedure of urgency and inserted in the Official Gazette in English and French. The publication shall apply to any decision by the Constitutional Council to modify or cancel the said results.”