2018 is a year for general elections in Cameroon. The coming elections include a presidential election that is more than likely to be a complete mirage, a staged-managed invention to shore up the international reputation of the longtime incumbent, Paul Biya, who has ruled with an iron fist since 1982. His victory in the rigged contest is not in doubt. This is arguably as a result of the nature of Cameroon’s undemocratic politics, the corruption of the electoral machine, voter apathy and pushing through with elections despite deep political crisis in the English-speaking regions of the mostly French-speaking west African country.
In March 2018, Senatorial elections were held in which President Paul Biya’s Cameroon People Democratic Movement (CPDM) party won 63 out of 70 elected seats. Ni John Fru Ndi’s chief opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) obtained only 7 seats, down from 14. The rest of the 30 seats were filled by Presidential appointment as is required by what prevails as law in the country.
Then, on 13 June 2018, Biya wrote a letter to the Senate President and to the National Assembly President asking them to consult their various bureaus on his proposed postponement of the legislative and municipal elections by one year starting from October 2018.
Biya argued that organising the municipal and legislative elections together with the presidential election would be too cumbersome. The Government has also posited that the insecurity in the Anglophone regions of the country and in the Far North Region warranted the postponement.
Full Article: The Mirage Of Presidential Elections In Cameroon.
