The study compares the roles and operations of electoral commissions in Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. Mathias Hounkpe added insights into the electoral systems of the remaining ECOWAS countries. Inspired by the two presentations, the ECONEC Steering Committee asked both experts to deepen and consolidate their findings into one comprehensive comparison of the electoral management bodies of all 15 ECOWAS member states. The terms of reference for this comprehensive study were subsequently developed in collaboration with the ECOWAS Electoral Assistance Unit. After the draft study was presented and validated at the ECONEC Steering Committee meeting in Niamey, Niger in May 2009, all electoral commissions had the chance to answer to a questionnaire in order to supplement and verify the authors' findings. The study at hand is the result of this process, which required inputs and assistance of many actors. One has to thank ECONEC and its leadership for the support of this project; the Electoral Assistance Unit, namely Interim Head Francis Oke, for the conceptual input; the authors Matthias Hounkpe and Madior Fall for their endurance and their relentless efforts to consolidate all findings; the translators and Stephanie Schulze for making this book available in English and the FES offices in West Africa, most notably FES Dakar and FES Cotonou, for facilitating the work of the two researchers. The book at hand identifies similarities and differences in the way electoral commissions operate in West Africa, and provides lessons learnt and best practices that shall assist those who aspire to improve electoral processes and introduce electoral norms and higher electoral standards in West Africa. Sebastian Sperling Coordinator FES Regional Office Abuja 5