A study of electoral commissions in Africa is also an opportunity to compare national democratic experiences, beyond the issue of the differences among them. At the time when West Africa is committed to a real dynamic of political integration especially through ECOWAS, it is interesting to see in what way convergence could be attained among countries in electoral matters. The comparative study of electoral commissions of West African countries is conducted in this paper essentially from the perspective of the electoral law and around the following three areas: ­The constitution of these commissions , which allows for the presentation of the formal provisions which govern the membership of these bodies, more precisely their mode of appointment, duties attached to their posts and consequently their independence from the actors of the political game, be it those in power or political parties aspiring to exercise this power. - Operation of the commissions, i.e. time of commencing work, manner of organisation and, above all, their powers and prerogatives, knowing that they owe their existence to the need for an impartial, neutral, just and independent management of the electoral process which is subject to suspicions of organized and unpunished frauds. The independence of the commissions is not confined to only the prerogatives which the law accords them, but also extends to the means at their disposal and the financial systems in which they operate. - The appraisal of the experiences of electoral commissions must finish during this first part of the study. It is carried out in form of a report on the work done. It is interesting beyond the formal presentation of the laws to embark on a form of practical evaluation of these bodies for the regulation of the electoral game. Experience shows in fact that the establishment of electoral commissions is sometimes 17