in the identification of the'ideal electoral commission' capable of ensuring the organization of the best elections? It is difficult to evolve the ideal profile for a commission for several reasons. First of all, the specific history of each country is an important feature of the definition of the electoral commission. Countries such as Benin which democratized from below through a renegotiation of the political system through a national conference have a more independent electoral commission than countries where democratization was rather operated from the top with concessions made unilaterally by those in power, such as Senegal. Secondly, the effectiveness and reputation of the state administration are crucial in the determination of the areas of competence of the electoral commission. In fact, in countries where the administration has the past proved to be relatively effective in the organization of elections as was in the case of Senegal in 2000, the task of the electoral commission was forcibly limited to the supervision of the electoral process, whereas electoral commissions were endowed with very important prerogatives whenever the administration disqualified itself due to its past partisan attitude. Thirdly, the legal tradition in the Anglophone countries as opposed to the Francophone and Lusophone countries is an important factor of influence on the determination of the status and the prerogatives of the electoral commission in the political system. In general, the guarantees of independence against the power of the executive are easily granted in the Anglophone countries(Ghana, Nigeria), compared to the Francophone countries which are rather characterized by a presidential system of government, which makes the independence of the other institutions against the president of the country more difficult. 93