Rapport de la Commission Indépendante d'Évaluation et de Vérification Électorale - Élections de 2015

The commission created by presidential decree of 28 April 2016 verified a national sample of 3,235 polling-station tally sheets from the 25 October 2015 presidential first round. It found complete case files for only 294 of them, no partial voter list in 90.6% of files and no signature list in 12.4%, recorded 29% of votes cast outside the signature list against only 3.6% of the required absentee minutes, and put untraceable votes at 628,000, about 40% of the 1,560,631 valid votes - 448,000 cast without the required absentee minute plus 180,250 estimated to carry false identity-card numbers, 16.2% of the traceable votes. It concluded that the process had been marked by serious irregularities, grave inconsistencies and massive fraud and that the breaches were systematic and intended to deceive, held the CEP, the vote tabulation centre, the electoral registry directorate and polling-station members responsible, referred possible offences of fraud and forgery to the competent authorities without naming individuals, and recommended restarting the electoral process. It traced the break in the documentary chain of custody to blank accreditation cards the CEP distributed to political parties without keeping a register.