Remarks by [US] Ambassador Robert P. Jackson at the Civil Society Post-Election Roundtable
"Democracy cannot exist in theory if it does not exist in practice. It cannot exist on paper if it does not exist on the streets. As I have said on several occasions, we cannot wait until the conditions for democracy are perfect before we start exercising our democratic rights. We must create conditions for democracy by exercising our democratic rights."
Digital Video Conference between Yaounde and Washington, D.C.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Colleagues and friends,
Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to host this digital video conference and to provide a forum to forge stronger ties between U.S. and Cameroonian civil society organizations. I hope that through this event today, we can have a frank discussion about the October 9 presidential election -- with the understanding that the election will not be complete until Cameroon’s Supreme Court rules on requests for annulment and announces the results. Today, we should take a comprehensive look at what lessons we can learn from the process -- not simply examining what ELECAM did well and where it could improve, but what we did well and where we could improve in terms of promoting democracy. Ultimately, I hope that at the conclusion of today’s session, we will have a better sense of what role we can play in and between elections.
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