Cameroon’s elections governing body, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), is expected to organize parliamentary and council elections this year. This will be the second time ELECAM will be organizing elections, coming after the October 9, 2011 presidential election in which 23 candidates contested.
The electoral law states that registration on the electoral register begins on January 1 every year and ends on August 31. The Director General of Elections in ELECAM, Mohaman Sani Tanimou in a press release said effective revision of the electoral registers begins today, January 5, 2012. The registration, he said, concerns all those who have attained the voting age of 20 years, people who have moved residence and those who did not register for the October 9, 2011 presidential election. The process will take place in ELECAM Council offices and by Joint Voters Registration Commissions on the field. Updated electoral lists, he said, will soon be published in ELECAM Council offices for people to crosscheck their names.
“We need to consolidate the national voter roll in preparation to begin the revision of those lists come January 2012,” the Electoral Board Chairman of ELECAM, Dr Fonkam Azu’u Samuel said in a recent interview with Cameroon Tribune, adding that, “You know, this year, all things being equal, there will be twin council and parliamentary elections. These are local elections and all politics they say, is local. Interests are localized and multiplied. We have learned a few lessons from the October 9 presidential election”, he added, re-stating the preparedness of ELECAM to correct the organisational lapses of the presidential election in upcoming elections.
ELECAM will have to handle cases of double registration, delete the names of dead people and ensure an efficient distribution of voters’ cards. Political party leaders whose parties will vie for seats in the National Assembly and different councils have to get back to work, convincing their supporters to register and get involved in the entire electoral processes. The Joint Voters Registration Commissions that by law will also be in charge of establishing and distributing voters’ cards, also have to start working.
