On August 16, 2007, the embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, of the United States of America and the High Commission of Great Britain and Northern Ireland issued a joint communiqué on the legislative and municipal elections of July 22, 2007. While congratulating the people and government of Cameroon for the generally peaceful and orderly elections, they insisted that:
"On the whole, however, these elections represent a missed opportunity for Cameroon – a missed opportunity to continue building public confidence in the democratic process as Cameroon looks ahead to its next election. Some recommended improvements growing out of previous elections – improvements that were not just achievable but that the government had committed itself to achieving – were in fact not achieved."
Continue reading "2007 Elections: War of Words between the Biya Regime and Diplomatic Missions" »
The Supreme Court of Cameroon sitting for the Constitutional Council has cancelled the legislative elections in five constituencies. In effect voters in Wouri East cmprising Douala III and V, and Moungo South in the Littoral Province, Nyong and Kelle of the Centre, Upper Nkam in the West Province and Mayo Tsanaga in the Far North will go back to the polls not later than 60 days from August 8 when the cancellations were announced.The five constituencies put together carry 17 parliamentary seats.
The National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon has remarked that the twin July 22 municipal and legislative elections in Cameroon were organised in peace and tranquility. Despite the fact that the orgnisation was better as opposed to the elections in 2002 and 2004, the Bishops emphasized that Cameroon's democratic process still has a long way to go.They also pinpointed some cases of electoral fraud and suggested possibilites of moving the democratic process forward.
performance during the July 22 twin elections. These results are allegedly based results sheets submitted by polling officers around the country.
In an interesting and controversial (some would say inflammatory) interview granted to the Chronicle newspaper, Ntemfac Ofege, the veteran Cameroonian journalist and famous “Prison Graduate” of the fiery 1990s, talks frankly about the just concluded elections in Cameroon; the widespread fraud, the leading actors, and what the future holds for Cameroon. Absolutely no one on the Cameroonian political landscape comes out unscathed from this no-holds-barred interview. Excerpts:
Cameroonians yesterday 22nd July, went to the to elect members of parliament and municipal councilors. The elections were predictably marred by violence and massive rigging besides the fact that many Cameroonians boycotted the elections for various reasons. At least one militant from the ruling CPDM party, suspecting of abetting rigging was killed and several others were reportedly injured, following bloody inter-party clashes and mob action. Some observers have already qualified the elections as the worst organized since the return of multiparty politics in 1990 and the “most massively rigged”.
The Clamour, the howls
YAOUNDE, July 19 (Reuters) - Cameroon holds one-sided parliamentary elections on Sunday expected to strengthen President Paul Biya's 25-year grip on power, although his opponents are already saying the vote is rigged.
On July 1, 2007, the Government of Cameroon announced that it had earmarked 1.5 billion CFA francs to fund political parties taking part in the July 22 parliamentary and municipal elections, although it did not shed light on how that money was to be distributed among the 44 parties participating in the election. 
Prior to the 1997 legislative elections, I wrote a special report for the Cameroon Post titled "The 1997 Legislative Elections in Cameroon - A Geo-strategic projection" which reviewed the law governing legislative elections in Cameroon and its impact on the chances of the contending parties (that is, beyond the issue of electoral fraud which invariably skews electoral outcomes). With legislative elections just around the corner, I am republishing parts of that article which are still relevant today. These excerpts will show how the laws in place give the ruling CPDM an undue advantage even in the hypothetical situation where there is absolutely no electoral fraud.
With municipal and legislative elections barely a few weeks away a review of Ewumbue-Monono’s, Indigenous minorities and the future of good governance in Cameroon is timely. It is, without doubt, the most comprehensive and most detailed book ever written on the political history of Fako division in the Southwest province of Cameroon. Not only does it give a detailed chronology of local politics in Fako in the past century - with a detailed list of all councilors in Fako since 1935 - it also tackles head-on, the native-settler problem which has bedeviled ethnic relations and politics in the division for close to a century – a snapshot at the problem of indigenous minorities which has bedeviled politics in many coastal and urbban regions of the country (Fako, Wouri, and Mfoundi divisions, for example) since the reinstitution of multipartyism in 1991.
According to the website of Cameroon’s Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization (MINATD), 45 political partieswill take part in the July 22, 2007 legislative elections, while 33 will take part in municipal elections also scheduled for the same day. (An earlier communiqué published by the same ministry on May 31, mentioned 22 and 18 parties respectively).
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