By DOH JAMES SONKEY
The President of the Constitutional Council, Clement Atangana has revealed that results of last February 9, 2020 legislative election in Cameroon will be proclaimed on Friday, February 28, 2020 at the Yaounde Conference Centre. He made the revelation last February 21, 2020 as he received a 107-page report from members of the National Commission for the Final Counting of Votes at the end of their vote counting operation.
Pending litigations and final proclamation of results this Friday, the Committee established a table showing the final result forwarded to the Constitutional Council for publication which indicates that the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM party emerged overall winner of the legislative election with 152 out of the 180 available seats at the National Assembly, followed at the 2nd position by the National Union for Democracy and Progress, NUDP party of Bello Bouba with 7 seats, the 3rd position is jointly occupied by the Social Democratic Front, SDF party of John Fru Ndi and PCRN, the 4th position is occupied by UDC with 4 seats, the National Salvation Front of Issa Tchiroma obtained 3 seats while MDR and UMS parties each grabbed 2 seats.
Following a brief ceremony at the Constitutional Council, the President of the National Vote Counting Committee, Emile Essombe speaking on behalf of the Committee’s 46 members said their work was essentially to count and correct any clerical error (essential mathematical errors) that might have emanated from the Divisional Supervisory Committees.
Following this submission, the Constitutional Council is since last February 24, 2020 in Yaounde holding public hearings on some 35 petitions tabled by 11 political parties that participated at the February 9, 2020 polls for the election of Members of the National Assembly. In their petitions, they are calling for the partial or total cancellation of the election results.
The opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) is said to be topping the chart with 18 out of the 35 petitions tabled at the Registry of the Constitutional Council. The party cites some constituencies in the North West Region where the election results have to be partially cancelled and in one of the petitions called for the total cancellation of the results in the entire North West Region. It has also called for the partial cancellation of the election results in Buea Rural, Fako East and Lebialem constituencies in the South West Region.
On its part, the National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) comes second with calls for the partial cancellation of the election results in five constituencies that include Mayo-Rey, Mayo-Sava, Mayo-Tsanaga-Sud, Mayo-Louti and Mayo-Banyu.
As the time for the ruling on the petitions draws nearer, the complainants and political parties whose election victories are being contested are leaving no stone unturned to defend their cases at the Constitutional Council. Information from the General Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) indicates that Minister Grégoire Owona who is the Deputy Secretary General of the CPDM Central Committee is heading an Electoral Disputes Sub-Committee that is currently at work preparing for the hearings.
The Social Democratic Front (SDF), according to its National Secretary for Communication, Denis Nkemlemo is also at work. He told Cameroon Tribune that the SDF has a legal team of seven lawyers to whom all the facts from the field have been forwarded. He disclosed that they are preparing the defence following the facts.
The Cameroon Democratic Union whose victory is contested in Noun-Centre Constituency in the West Region, according to one of its Political Bureau members, Koupit Adamou has already finished clarifications on the case and submitted to the Constitutional Council. He said the party is calm and waiting to defend its victory during the hearings.
Section 168 (1) of the Electoral Code stipulates that, “the Constitutional Council shall ensure the regularity of the election of Members of Parliament. It shall proclaim the results within a maximum period of 20 days with effect from the date of the closure of polls.”