a Is not in charge of all tasks of the election process(e.g. It does not establish the electoral roll); this, indeed, is not necessarily a handicap, inevitable for the good management of elections; b Has no fixed time for starting its activities, although the law stipulates that the mandate of the commission shall end three months after the announcement of the final election results. This necessarily creates some uncertainties with respect to the time actually available for the preparation and organization of elections by the commission and therefore may have some influence on its autonomy. Indeed, it is quite possible that the actual starting time of the preparations is influenced by the political atmosphere in the meantime; c Prepares and submits the budget to the government. This, as shown by many examples of other countries in the region(e.g. Benin), is a weakness that can become crucial for the autonomy of the commission and for the quality of elections. Indeed, the government may use its discretion over the budget to blackmail the commission and thereby reduce its autonomy; D Has almost no influence on the composition of its branches, except that it appoints the chairman of each local board. This raises the risk that the management of parts of the commission is difficult and that the articulation between its different levels may be problematic. 127