By DOH JAMES SONKEY
Electors have been convened for Sunday October 7, 2018 to elect the President of the Republic of Cameroon. The Electoral College was convened July 9, 2018 by the President of the Republic, Paul Biya exactly 90 days to the polls as stipulated by the Electoral Code in article 2 of Section 86. According to the Electoral Code, following the convening of electors, presidential aspirants have 10 days to drop their candidatures at Elections Cameroon.
The convening of the Electoral College automatically puts an end to the yearly voter registration and revision of voter registers in accordance with the Electoral Code.
The President of the Republic according to Section 116 of the Electoral Code shall be elected for a 7 years’ mandate by universal suffrage and by direct, equal and secret ballotthrougha single round majority ballot.
It equally specifies that voting shall take place no less than 20 days and no more than 50 days before the expiry of the term of office of the incumbent President of the Republic.
On who can be elected President of the Republic of Cameroon, Section 117 of the Electoral Code says candidates must be in full possession of their civic and political rights and must be aged 35 years and above by the date of election.
By so doing, President Paul Biya has debunked rumours propagated by some citizens alleging that he had the intention of using the ongoing Anglophone socio-political crisis as pretext to also push forward the presidential election after he did so for municipal and parliamentary elections which were to hold this 2018.
CPDM waits in suspense
Reactions from the ruling and opposition parties in Cameroon have been pouring in after the announcement of the date of the presidential election, set for October 7 this year.
Some opposition supporters have criticized the move.
“It is difficult to understand that in a democratic country, the President of the Republic expected to be candidate during the elections holds the exclusive right to choose the date for an election. In other countries where democracy is ideal, the date of the presidential election is known at least twelve months in advance,” SDF spokesman Jean Robert Wafo said.
According to members of the ruling CPDM party in Cameroon the president acted in accordance with the law.
“I am not surprised. The head of state is a legalist, a republican, he does it within the framework of the law, he respects the deadlines and he did well to convene this presidential election, which must be a great moment of republican truth, because the sovereign people will choose democratically and within the framework of the laws of the Republic, the destiny that he wants,” CPDM supporter Hervé Emmanuel Nkom said.
President Paul Biya, who has already served 35 years in power, did not announce whether he would run for a seventh re-election, but his supporters present him as the “ideal” candidate of the presidential majority. It remains unclear whether an extra-ordinary congress of the party will meet to endorse him or someone else. But given that time is of the essence, the polibureau of the CPDM may meet to choose the party’s candidate.
The main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, has already nominated Joshua Osih as its candidate.
Other candidates have already declared themselves, including the lawyer and former vice-president of Transparency International, Akere Muna, former student leader of a citizens movement Cabral Libii and renowned jurist Maurice Kamto. Opposition parties in Cameroon have not succeeded to form a coalition.