The five female Senators make up close to 30 per cent of the 17-member Permanent Bureau.
The Head of State, Paul Biya in appointing 30 Senators on May 8, 2013, respected Section 218 (3) of the Electoral Code that states that the composition of lists must reflect among others, gender aspects. Political parties that competed in the April 14, 2013 first-ever Senate elections in the country, also respected the same provisions of the Electoral Code.
The final outcome is that in the 100-member Senate, there are 20 female Senators. All 17 candidates put forward by the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM and Social Democratic Front, SDF were elected, while Aboui Marlyse of the National Alliance for Democracy and Progress, NADP, Hayatou Aicha Pierrette and Bisseck Paulettee of the CPDM were appointed by the President Paul Biya.
The strive to respect gender aspects in the election and appointment of Senators has witnessed another push in the election of the Permanent Bureau of the Upper House of Parliament for the 2013 legislative year. In the elections conducted on June 12, 2013 at the Ngoa-Ekelle Parliament Hemicycle in Yaounde, women occupy five of the 17 positions, representing close 30 per cent of the Bureau members. Senator Tjoues Geneviève, a CPDM political icon from the Sanaga Maritime Division of the Littoral Region, who also headed the party’s list in the April 14 Senate election, is one of the four Vice Presidents of the Upper House of Parliament. Considering that bureau members were nominated by their political parties, Tjoues Geneviève’s position being the first name on the list of four Vice Presidents, is a mark of recognition. Bisseck Paulette, the CPDM appointed Senator from the South Region is one of the three Questors in the Permanent Bureau of the Upper House of Parliament. The Social Democratic Front that has 14 Senators also nominated Haoua Madeleine from the Adamawa Region as one of the eight Secretaries. Her name sailed through the final consensus list of political parties represented in the Senate.
