By Doh James Sonkey
The Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Paul Atanga Nji has declared that no major incident stained the smooth organization and security of last October 7 presidential election in all the 360 sub-divisions of Cameroon. The Minister made the declaration at a press briefing after the close of polling stations nationwide as journalists trooped in to get information on the general conduct of the polls.
Paul Atanga Nji
“Information at our disposal indicates that the electoral process generally went on hitch-free in calm, serenity and transparency throughout the country apart from two minor incidents registered at Makenene in Mbam and Inoubou Division and Baham in Upper Plateau Division where a sympathizer of a political opposition party was found in possession of ballot papers of another candidate.” Declared the Minat boss.
He revealed that the Ministry of Territorial Administration granted a total of 4094 accreditations to observers (3662 national and 432 international.)
While calling on political actors to emulate “the maturity and patriotism demonstrated by other Cameroonians since the beginning of the electoral process,” Minister Atanga Nji warned that the government will not tolerate any form of challenge to the verdict of the polls except constitutional legal means.
He emphasized that only the Constitutional Council according to the law has the exclusive right in Cameroon to proclaim official results.
Dismissing claims by some candidates that they rejected government’s funding of public campaign for the election, the Minister clarified that apart from Maurice Kamto, candidate for MRC, all the other 8 candidates effectively collected the first installment of these funds.
He added that on high instructions from the President of the Republic, government took all necessary measures to ensure the security of all the candidates.