Cameroon: 45 Potential Candidates Queue For October Presidential Poll
Ntaryike Divine Jr
Douala, Cameroon
4 September 2011
45 potential contenders for
Cameroon’s third presidential election since 1992 have submitted their
candidature files at the Directorate General of Elections Cameroon, or ELECAM,
the body tasked with masterminding the awaited presidential poll in October.
The deadline for the submission
of the candidature files expired at midnight Sunday [4 September], five days
after a presidential decree declared October 9 the voting date. ELECAM will eventually scrutinize the
candidacies; disqualifying the ineligible and retaining those who meet
requirements ahead of campaigns slated to kick off September 25 at midnight and
end on October 8.
Sixteen candidates contested the
last election in 2004, in which incumbent President Paul Biya of the ruling
Cameroon Peoples’ Democratic Movement, CPDM, emerged with a landslide
victory. He obtained over 70 percent
votes, trouncing immediate challenger Ni John Fru Ndi of the main opposition
Social Democratic Front, SDF, for whom only a skimpy 17 percent of the
electorate cast their ballots.
Both men will again exchange
political blows in the October 9 poll.
After a period of protracted silence, 78-year-old Biya’s candidature was
filed Sunday, choking rumors in some quarters the 29-year-old serving leader
will not seek reelection from mounting external pressure.
Claude Abe, a sociologist and
political pundit says Paul Biya’s reelection bid, especially following his removal
of term limits from the constitution in 2008, could catalyze uncomfortable
agitation from the international community.
“Effectively, there’s a certain
degree of reticence towards governments that stay too long in power. It appears to me that the president has taken
upon himself to snub the issue of international interference. But on the other side, the international
community says if you say no to interference, then we also say no to indifference…
I am among those who think that
it is not for the international community to come give lessons and decide for
Cameroonians. But we can expect that
several voices will rise to try and indicate certain orientations despite the
hegemony that the CPDM already enjoys on the country’s political space. If they discover that their interests are no
longer preserved, we could reach a situation where the long-staying government
is transformed into a destructive force for the country,” he explained.
However, Rene Emmanual Sadi,
Secretary General of the CPDM party who led a high-level delegation of the
party scribe to submit the candidature says Biya could stay indifference to
nationwide pleas for him to continue ruling Cameroon.
“As you know, it’s a candidature
that has been clamored for since at least one year by militants of the CPDM
party. The president himself will tell
you under what banner he intends to place the coming years if the ever the
Cameroonian people renewed their confidence in him. In the coming days he’ll say at the party congress,”
he said.
The party’s third ordinary
congress since 1996 has been billed for the capital Yaoundé on 15-16 September.
Among others, officials say delegates to the conclave will deliberate
rejuvenating the party organs by ejecting the old guard and bringing younger
militants, as well as elect a leader.
Biya has been the party national president since its creation in 1985.
Among the 45 presidential
aspirants flexing muscles to challenge outgoing Paul Biya are veterans on
Cameroon’s political landscape, as well as total novices. They include the likes of Adamou Ndam Njoya
of the UDC who ended third in 2004 with 4.5 percent of the vote, Anicet Ekane
of MANIDEM [0.35 percent] and Jean Jacques Ekindi of the MP [0.27 percent].
“I can also mention two female
candidates among all of them,” Mohaman Sani Tanimou, the Director General of
Elections at ELECAM revealed late Sunday.
They include Edith Kahbang Walla of the Cameroon Peoples’ Party, CPP and
Lamartine Tchana of the Conquering Liberal Dynamic of Indomitable Cameroonians,
DYCLIC accredited only last March 2011.
“I have a lot of things to change
the Cameroon society. There’re a lot of
problems – lack of jobs for young students who leave school and a lot of
problems for health. I have all the
youths behind me. They’re supporting
me. I have a lot of supporters all over
Cameroon,” she claimed.
But political analysts argue the
opposition has severely lost credibility and esteem among the electorate. For example, many blame greed as responsible
for the inability to form a coalition to give Biya an earnest run for his
money. Others point to double-dealing,
hush-hush or barefaced pacts with the ruling CPDM for government posts.
“We can’t expect much because
firstly, the opposition in Cameroon is dead, and that’s a long time ago. It’s a bit too obvious and one must not be a
diviner to see that President Biya will win again, but at what price and how
much delight and wellbeing for the Cameroonian people? That’s the major
question,” Claude Abe queried.
Meantime, ELECAM is almost
certain to score less than its initial target of 9 million voters in the
country of over 20 million inhabitants.
“I can say 7.4 or 7.5 million
voters. But we have to get out of this
file, people who are already dead, who cannot vote again because we didn’t do
that job until now,” Sani Tanimou said.
Cameroon’s parliament approved a
new law in July granting voting rights to citizens living overseas in
presidential elections. Voter registers
from the diaspora, with an estimated number of eligible voters fixed at five
million, are still however, awaited.
The figures indicate that only
2.3 million new voters have enrolled on registers across the country. Pundits say it is an indication of apathy
blamed on Cameroon’s track record of rigged elections in favor of the CPDM.
Tanimou nonetheless bragged that
all was so far unfolding according to plan at ELECAM, though more funding is
needed to polish the electoral process.
“All electoral material is
available. We are ready and some
printing presses are printing some documents we need for the coming election.
At this moment, we do not have all we want but I think the government is taking
measures to make available money. We’re
waiting,” he added.
In the 2004 poll, some 3.7
million voters cast their ballot for a turnout rate of 82.2 percent.
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