July 2007 Elections: A Showcase of Amplified Fraudulent Apparatus in Cameroon

CCDHR is calling for an annulment of the results of the July 22 Municipal and Legislative Elections in Cameroon due to extensive fraud, electoral irregularities, and violations of electoral laws. The elections were yet another complete aberration of government’s promises to ensure that elections in Cameroon are conducted in a way that respect the rights of every citizen to participate in the political process of the country in a transparent manner.

CCDHR notes that the July 22 elections were a sophisticated replication of decades of electoral irregularities, with even tighter control of the process and an efficient use of administrative officers and security forces to defend election fraud. Such organizational and substantive discrepancies do not dignify Cameroon as a nation. The 2007 elections redefined the meaning of electoral fraud, heightened the level of violence, and led to a sharp deterioration in the conditions of democratic life in  Cameroon.

The elections were marred by extensive rigging and violence. Eligible voters who had registered to vote did not receive their voting cards, while the names of those who received their voting cards were absent from the voters' registers at the locations where they were suppose to vote. Recognized sympathizers of opposition parties were chased out of polling stations and not allowed to vote, while others were arrested and jailed for no apparent reason. In some polling stations, officials of the ruling Cameroon People Democratic Movement (CPDM) were allowed to bribe electors by giving lump sum cash to any voter who could produce all opposition voting bulletins but that of the CPDM, an evidence that the vote was cast in favour of the CPDM. The government also littered the streets and polling stations of opposition strongholds with armed security forces as an intimidation strategy.

CCDHR is very concerned at the government's failure to provide indelible voting ink as required. Instead, watery ink was provided to polling stations as a measure to facilitate fraud. The prevalence of “Cyclical Voting” (which involves repetitive voting within the same polling station by the same individual); “Rotary Voting” (which involves duplicate registration that allows the same individual to vote at different polling stations); and “Electoral Caravans” (which consists of hiring and ferrying people to vote in a specific locality) was widely reported in several electoral circumscriptions where the CPDM feared a real challenge. Besides, the President of the Republic who is also chairman of the ruling CPDM party embarked on an unofficial Election Day campaign tour of the capital city of Yaounde as a last minute campaign gesticulation, in contravention of Section 82 of Law No. 91-020 of 16 December 1991 on the election of Members of Parliament, and Section 1 of Law No. 92-002 of 14 August 1992 on the Election of Municipal Councilors which states that:

“The election campaign shall open on the fifteenth day preceding the day of election and close at midnight on the eve of the day of election”.

CCDHR also notes with regrets that the nationwide turn out for the elections was extremely low, estimated by independent sources at less than 40 percent of registered voters. It should be recalled that less than 50 percent of eligible voters even bordered to register to vote for this elections. Under such circumstances, the July 2007 Elections is all but credible. CCDHR recognizes that voters' disenfranchisement caused by decades of election rigging is to blame for the pervasiveness of voter apathy across the country. Most Cameroonians have completely lost faith in the system to the point where they do not belief their votes matter anymore. It should be mentioned that elections constitute the basis of democracy, and democracy sustains open societies, without which there can be no genuine social stability or development. As recognized in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law”.

The right to vote is a right that every Cameroonian should be able to exercise. Continuous violation of this right does not reflect well for the stability and function of the country. For true peace and justice to exist in the society, Cameroonians must be afforded the opportunity to freely and transparently choose their leaders and representatives in democratic elections.

CCDHR equally hold that the whole electoral process itself lacked credibility. Elections in Cameroon are organized and supervised by the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization (MINATD). Not only is the Minister of MINATD appointed by the President of the Republic (chairman of the CPDM party), the current Minister of MINATD himself is also a Central Committee member of the CPDM party. This setup is largely responsible for the fraudulent machinery that has been put in place to perpetually rig elections in Cameroon.

CCDHR is consequently reiterating its call for the establishment of an Independent Electoral Commission in Cameroon, and its opposition to Law No. 2006/011 of 29 December 2006 creating Elections Cameroon (ELECAM). While ELECAM may be perceived as an improvement to the current MINATD scam, PICAM does not see ELECAM as the viable independent electoral body that the country critical needs. The consultation required by Law No. 2006/011 in the appointment of member of ELECAM is a mockery and provocation to Cameroonians who are familiar with the dishonesty of their government. Besides, the fact that ELECAM members can serve indefinitely, at the pleasure of the President is alarming. It is common knowledge that appointees always pay allegiance to those who appoint them. Therefore only those who are obedient to President Paul Biya and his associates and carry out their instructions to the letter will be guaranteed the chance to continuously serve on ELECAM. The only real solution to Cameroon’s electoral crisis is a truly independent electoral commission.