3.1.5 Restricted missions of electoral commissions Another issue that demands to be given special attention relates to the determination of the missions of the electoral commission. Even if the need to involve an independent commission in the management of the electoral process to increase its quality is obvious, the determination of the mode in which tasks and responsibilities are distributed may not be that simple. A bad resolution of this issue, namely a non pertinent distribution of the different tasks of the process, may cause the tasks not to be accomplished or so badly done that it will affect the quality of the electoral process in a substantial way. The sharing of roles among several institutions involved in the electoral process could be difficult and might not have a unique solution applicable everywhere, for at least two reasons. First, one must acknowledge the fact that the determination of the missions of an electoral commission is not easy in the sense that the tasks of managing elections are not only multiple and varied, but also, in most cases, interdependent and complementary. Secondly, monitoring electoral practices(at least in the West African sub-region) enables us to notice that having a high number of prerogatives is not always a contributing factor to success(the 2007 elections in Nigeria illustrate this), and that sometimes a commission with fewer prerogatives can be more effective in ensuring a high quality of elections(e.g. the National Election Monitoring Group(ONEL) in Senegal, the electoral commission of Niger and, to a lesser extent, the Malian electoral commission). From all the foregoing, it will be delusive to point out a model in terms of task distribution between the different actors of the electoral process. Despite this, it is possible to pin point good and bad cases of task distribution with positive or disastrous consequences on the 137