law on the general rules for elections in Republic of Benin(presently in application), the autonomous national electoral commission (ANEC) declares the final results of local elections:“the autonomous national electoral commission consolidates the results of the legislative and presidential elections, the autonomous national electoral commission shall forward them to the Constitutional Court for verification of regularity, consideration of claims and proclamation of final results”. The Benin ANEC, whenever it observes irregularities during the monitoring of elections such as fraudulent acts committed by individuals or groups of individuals, can only inform the respective judicial authorities. It is only the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court – depending on elections concerned – that are competent to sanction committed irregularities. This means that ANEC does not actually have any power to punish. Once it has accomplished its missions in the electoral process, ANEC prepares a report which is communicated to the president of the country. This report is deposited 45 days after the proclamation of the final results at the latest. Members of ANEC then forward their archives to the permanent administrative secretariat of ANEC where they are preserved. ANEC does not have any other powers aside from the ones explained above. It cannot exercise the right of monitoring political parties. In Guinea Bissau The electoral commission of Guinea Bissau has power to supervise the electoral head count, approve the conformity of electoral documents, order the printing and monitoring of ballot papers, ensure 64