The electoral commissions of Niger and Burkina Faso could be put in this category with respect to the peaceful nature of elections in these countries. The electoral commissions of some post–conflict countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone were able to ensure a conduct of electoral processes commended by national and international opinion. However, one needs to emphasise that the success of these elections is no doubt also connected to the involvement of the international community in the conduct of the said elections and that it is certainly proper to await the resultant electoral cycles before pronouncing any verdict. In other cases, the judgment one can make on the national electoral commission is more reserved. Two comments are aimed at the quality of work done by the commission: it has happened that the commission has acted in deviance of the constitution, inhibiting its effective functioning. Furthermore, it also happened that the commission only succeeded in certain aspects of its mission and failed in others. In both cases, for the assessment to be realistic, it must be shaded. Most of the West African countries would rightly be classified into this category. For instance, in this category are the cases in which one could conclude that the body in charge of election management had to resolve the crises confronted with, in addition to dealing with common complaints on the funds allocated to the commission. In the case of Mali the crisis occurred a day before the 1997 election. At that time, the election commission was legally empowered to organize elections and announce the results. For lack of experience the commission's election management had been somewhat erratic. These indecisions slightly marred the second mandate of the Head of State at that time. Whatever the case, one can promptly draw some lessons from these unfortunate experiences since the responsibility to 90