The 2nd national vice president of opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, SDF, Louis Marie Kakdeu (MPA, PhD & HDR) in this exclusive chat granted The SUN weighs his party’s chances in winning the October 2025 Presidential election. Being very optimistic that the SDF candidate will emerge victorious, Kakdeu details on new strategies and efforts being made on ground by the party, opines on the issue of opposition coalitions, and emphasises on securing votes by electors. He spoke to The SUN’s CEO Wasso N. Binde and Editor, Noela E. Bisong.
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How much is your party, the SDF preparing for the Presidential election in October?
The SDF is no longer confused. The SDF is taking the necessary actions to win elections. Our party has changed its approach to election preparation. We started by evaluating our past failures to look to the future. From this perspective, we noticed that the participation rate in the various elections is increasingly low. Citizens were not registering massively, and even those who did register were not going to vote massively. We asked ourselves why and realised that we were often working to discourage our voters without knowing it. Firstly, we were sending the wrong message and the wrong signal. When, during an election year, we used to say that the elections would be rigged, the message we were sending was that it wasn’t worth going out to vote. The SDF has corrected this and now only sends messages of encouragement to its voters. We already had to win in 1992 with a bad electoral code, and we can win again in 2025. Secondly, we realised that many of our voters were not going to collect their cards from Elecam, which was used by fraudsters against us. In many Elecam branches, more than 80% of registered voters’ cards were still outstanding. This is a sure failure for the opposition. The SDF is actively working to encourage our voters to collect their cards from Elecam. Thirdly, voting security was not ensured in most polling stations. Less than 3% of polling stations were secured in 2018. This encouraged fraud since the CPDM could fill out and sign the reports on its own. The SDF made recruiting polling agents a priority. And this is what we do every day. We’re even aiming for three agents per polling station, which means we’re looking for around 90,000 polling agents by October 2025. If we have them, then we’ll win for sure. Also, we were absent from the field. Our predecessors had aged and no longer toured Cameroon enough. The SDF has reconnected with the field. The party has toured Cameroon twice since 2024. We plan to do so again before the election.
Finally, the party is strengthening its communications strategy. A call center has been set up to stay connected with our grassroots organisations and voters. There is also a data center that centralises data in real time. We will even be able to announce election results in real time. Fraud will be impossible. The party is strengthening its presence in the media. Podcasts have been chosen to reach voters who are still undecided. We are increasing the creation of content to feed our media platforms. So far, so good.
Recently, you outrightly stated that conceiving a single opposition candidate is nothing short of a mirage. Why such stance?
I have said that 0+0=0 in reference to the fact that the coalition of parties playing on the same field had no added-value. I have said that the opposition is weak in the northern part of the country and that a winning coalition would not be that of parties concentrated in Douala and Yaoundé, but one that would cover the entire national territory. Coalition is mutualization and to mutualize, you must have something to contribute beyond chatter. Also, some parties have to get out of the (social) media and go to the field! This is important! I have also given the techniques of the coalition which begin with the development of a common vision and areas of collaboration. Many initiatives were launched on the field of the coalition while ignoring these technical considerations. And it failed as you can notice.
So what can be done at the level of the opposition to stage a strong fight against the ruling CPDM with such a visible majority?
It must be said bluntly that opposition political parties must first fill their duties on the ground. This is our greatest weakness. Many parties remain in an elitist approach that consists of holding numerous summit meetings without ever going on the field. We must go to the field and do the groundwork. This involves establishing a grassroots presence, ideally around polling stations, proposing an alternative model of society that integrates the needs, expectations, and concerns of citizens, supporting these citizens in the electoral process, and ensuring the security of the vote. It is only when people are in this process that we can pool our resources within the framework of a coalition or even an alliance. It is a matter of seeing who is who and who can contribute what. The chatter in Sunday’s debates will not replace this fieldwork.
A lot seems to be happening with regards to the resignation of Issa Tchiroma Bakary and apparently Bello Bouba, who have both declared to stand as candidates in the upcoming election. What is your take?
I’m not under any illusions. Again, I think each party must first do its fieldwork, and we’ll see later when we know who is actually on the candidate list and who isn’t. Anything we can do now would be speculation.
These recent happenings, are they a boost to the SDF and the opposition in general for a possible strong coalition?
Their resignations clearly changes the situation. A coalition with these parties, which are strongly represented in the northern part of the country, will allow the opposition to have full coverage of the national territory. This therefore has an added-value in overthrowing the Biya regime.
We saw pictures of your party national Chairman, Hon. Joshua Osih paying homage to UNDP’s Bello Bouba recently. What signal can we draw from such a move?
Let us be careful! The Chairman’s intention was not to pay tribute to the President of the UNDP. The terms were poorly chosen. It was to initiate contact for possible future collaboration. I believe it’s a good thing for political leaders to talk to each other, especially when it comes to the leaders of the two main opposition parties at the moment. I would like to point out that even in 1992, there was no single candidate and the SDF won. I want to make it clear that the idea of a single candidate that is circulating among public opinion is not a sine qua non condition for victory.
What are SDF’s chances in the upcoming presidential election?
Like in 1992, the SDF will win the October 2025 election again. The party just needs to continue its fieldwork and its current approach: ensuring the party’s presence throughout the country, selling its political programy, which is the result of listening to citizens, and securing votes. The party is working hard to achieve this.
Some expert opinions hold that without electoral reforms, (notably introduction of single ballot), there’s little that can come out from the election result; that it will be same old story of the CPDM winning with a wide gap. Do you agree?
I have already refuted this kind of allegation above. In 1992, the electoral system was worse than today and the SDF won. Nowadays, the system has improved and we do not see how we cannot win if we address our weaknesses that I presented above.
What appreciation do you make of the voter registration level so far?
Personally, I’m not too attached to the total registration numbers. There’s no point in registering and not voting. I have other concerns, and I’ve said so: Nearly 50% of registered voters abandon their cards at Elecam, and this is used for fraud. They need to go and collect them. The abstention rate in elections is increasingly high. We need to work to reverse the trend. If 80% of registered voters vote, then the CPDM will lose. In 2018, the CPDM only received 2.4 million votes. Nearly 3 million registered voters didn’t vote! So, who won: Abstention or CPDM? I’m personally interested by the winner who is abstention. People need to turn out to vote massively!
Any last words?
There’s only one way to win the election in October: Register on the electoral roll, collect voter registration cards, vote on election day, and remain outside the polling station to secure the vote. That is all. Thank you!