Table 3: Scope, power and capacity of electoral commissions to sanction Yes Power of sanction Scope of prerogatives of the commission Reduced Senegal Strong CapeVerde Very strong Nigeria, Liberia, Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mali, Guinea Conakry Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Togo, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso No 2.3 Financial System “Democracy is priceless, though it has a cost” – so goes a saying. The truthfulness of this adage is confirmed especially in the domain of elections. With respect to the importance of financial resources for the operations of the commission, legislations are in place throughout the region to varying degrees in order to enable the commission to be efficient and autonomous. The budget of“CENA” of Benin is fixed by decrees by the Council of Ministers. This budget has undergone a steel edge revolution. Because of a steady rise between 1996 and 2006, the budget was drastically reduced in 2007. In 1996, it actually rose to nearly FCFA 3.5 billion after implementation. In 2006, this budget went up by more than FCFA 10 billion and decreased to FCFA 8 billion in 2007. At a first glance, these figures appear astronomical. However, if we consider the financial remunerations of members of ANEC we will realize that the 2006 December decree promulgated by the new regime has drastically cut the allowances of these members. The daily allowances of the chairman of ANEC were reduced from FCFA 80