ELECAM is bent on over turning the timid registration as it has embarked on a proximity registration strategy.

Barely one month into the 2015 revision of the national voters roll which started on 2 January, 2015, as required by the Electoral Code, the elections management body, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) has revealed that 7,727 new cases (voters) have been registered so far in 2015. The revelation was made on 30 January, 2015 during the presentation of New Year wishes to the Director General of ELECAM, Mohaman Sani Tanimou.

According to statistics gathered from ELECAM, 4,998 of the registered voters are men while 2,729 are women. The figures also put the North West first with 3,021 new names on the electoral list since the start of the operation. The South Region is the least with just 51 newly registered cases. 

As at 30 January 2015, ELECAM’s database showed an overall figure of 5,597,537 registered voters in Cameroon. The revision exercise entails registration of new cases (those who have attained voting age of 20 years and those who have never registered), modifications, deletion and distribution of voters’ cards.

Some ELECAM Council Branch Heads, who spoke to Cameroon Tribune, stated that the exercise has been timid because they were still putting in place strategies and plans of action to be employed in the field. Thus, most of those who registered last month are those who came to the offices. Mvondo Sylvestre Désiré of the Yaoundé III Council Branch holds that the figures will bulge as from this month when they will embark on a proximity campaign in major roundabouts and quarters.

The timidity is also blamed on ignorance of the part of a cross section of the population that is yet to understand why it should register during a non-election year. In Cameroon, the electoral list is opened from 1^st January to the 31^st of August each year as stated in the Electoral Code.