https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

Cameroon court hears calls for "irregular" election to be annulled

Close

Embed Video

Cameroon court hears calls for "irregular" election to be annulled

Cameroonian President Paul Biya
Photo by Reuters
Cameroonian President Paul Biya

17th October 2018

By: Reuters

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

Opposition candidates who say last week's presidential election in Cameroon was marred by fraud had their appeals heard at the country's Constitutional Council on Tuesday.

President Paul Biya is widely expected to extend his 36-year rule by winning a seventh term, making him one of Africa's longest serving leaders.

Advertisement

But allegations of voter intimidation, violence and ballot-stuffing have cast doubt over the October 7 election and raised political tensions ahead of results expected before Sunday.

Opposition candidate Maurice Kamto, who declared victory shortly after the vote without providing actual figures, asked the court to cancel results in seven regions of Cameroon.

Advertisement

"This election was absolutely irregular," Emmanuel Simh, the vice president of Kamto's Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) party, said in court on Tuesday.

Cameroon's electoral body Elecam has defended its organisation of the poll and said over the weekend that it had not seen any proof of fraud. Government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma Bakary has dismissed allegations of fraud.

Candidates Joshua Osih and Cabral Libii have asked for the results to be cancelled and the election to be re-run.

Civil society groups have called for peaceful demonstrations against the election process, but none have taken place so far.

Opposition to another seven years of Biya rule comes amid a separatist insurgency in the English-speaking South West and North West regions where there were isolated incidents of violence on election day and where few went to vote.

Crisis Group analyst Hans De Marie Heungoup estimated an average voter participation of 55 percent in Francophone regions and five percent in Anglophone areas.

The major cocoa and oil producer has experienced economic growth of over 4 percent a year since Biya was last elected in 2011, but many of its 24-million citizens still live in poverty.

An Islamist Boko Haram insurgency in the north, which spread from neighbouring Nigeria, has killed scores over the past decade. The Anglophone crisis has cost hundreds of lives and forced thousands to flee their homes.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now