The National Transitional Council (CNT) recently approved the Finance Bill for the year 2025, thus validating the budgets allocated to elections and various institutions.
On December 19, 2024, the CNT finalized the adoption of the Finance Law for the coming budget year, confirming the funds intended for elections, specialized bodies and ministerial departments.
The voting process took place in two phases. First, on December 12, the CNT examined and adopted the first part of the project, which details the revenue and expenditure forecasts. For 2025, the state budget is estimated at 2,648.900 billion FCFA in revenue and 3,229.886 billion FCFA in expenditure, resulting in a deficit of 580.986 billion FCFA.
Concerning the elections, the CNT reserved 80.750 billion FCFA for electoral expenses, with a budget of 6.093 billion FCFA for the Independent Electoral Management Authority (AIGE) and 17.297 billion FCFA for the new bodies established by the revised Constitution. This approval sends positive signals about the organization of elections in 2025. This is suggested by the remarks made by the new head of the executive, Major General Abdoulaye Maïga, the day after taking office at the end of last November. However, no election date has yet been announced.
Despite these budgetary advances, concerns persist within the political class about the government's real capacity to organize elections in a peaceful climate. Political leaders have expressed doubts about the transparency and fairness of the electoral process. They call for a constructive dialogue between the authorities and political parties to guarantee a peaceful transition to a democratic regime.
Furthermore, in the second part of the finance bill validated by the CNT, the budgets of certain institutions and ministerial departments were confirmed.
Among the allocations, the National Agency for State Security (ANSE) obtains 21.222 billion FCFA and the Presidency of the Transition sees its budget slightly increase to 17.748 billion FCFA.
Two ministries stand out for significant increases: that of National Reconciliation, Peace and Social Cohesion, whose budget increases to 12.995 billion FCFA and the Ministry of the Environment, which obtains 25.682 billion FCFA. On the other hand, the budget of the Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs decreases significantly, going from 565.706 billion FCFA to 485.058 billion FCFA, as does that of the Ministry of Security.
MD/Sf/ac/APA
