Major Progress Already Made by the CEP

Four important decisions by the Provisional Electoral Council have already been submitted to the transitional government, three months after its establishment.

These include the referendum decree, the referendum budget, the electoral calendar, and the voting method.

According to a source close to the government, experts are scrutinizing the referendum decree to finalize it as soon as possible. “We want to harmonize the approaches of the CPT and the CEP,” confides one of the Presidency’s lawyers.

Regarding the calendar, Leslie Voltaire, traveling abroad this week, stole the spotlight from the CEP. General elections are expected to take place on November 15, announced the president of the transitional council during an interview on TV5 Monde.

Concerning the budget, the source refrained from any speculation, as discussions are still ongoing with the executive. However, this does not prevent the referendum from being scheduled for Sunday, May 11, 2025, as the first popular consultation.

The last decision concerns the voting method. We learn that the CEP is opting for tradition while also intending to innovate. It will be traditional manual voting. However, an anonymous advisor informs us that a “pre-registration on-site voting approach” will be used. That is to say, on the day of the referendum, the voter will present their card at the nearest center to vote, he specifies.

The members of the Provisional Electoral Council have already conducted a comprehensive inventory of the institution's current state. Wanting to proceed quickly and effectively at the same time, they have, in a second phase, initiated recruitment for referendum staff members, whose results are expected soon.