Voter registration is underway in Cameroon ahead of
nationwide elections later this year. However the electoral body is
encountering both voter apathy and challenges due to insecurity in some parts
of the country.
Staff
of Cameroon elections management body ELECAM are now forced to move from place
to place in busy areas of towns and cities convincing potential voters to have
their names registered on electoral lists.
But
business lady Winifred Bwei, 34, decides not to sign up.
"Last
election year [2013], I went to vote," she explained. "I saw that
somebody had already voted. I saw my name that somebody had already voted [as
me] and I was not the one and political parties are complaining that elections
are always rigged by the ruling government so I don’t think my voting would
change anything."
Cameroon
plans to hold local council, parliamentary and presidential elections starting
in September. If held separately, the polls could continue into October.
Few see
much suspense as President Paul Biya seeks re-election. He is one of Africa’s
longest ruling heads of state. The ruling party has controlled parliament and
most local councils for decades.
ELECAM
officials, who are appointed by the president, have dismissed allegations of
rigging as unfounded.
Besides
the voter apathy, election workers are struggling with insecurity in several
parts of the country.
Cameroon
is currently experiencing tensions in its two English-speaking regions where
separatists have declared independence for a new state they call Ambazonia. The
yearlong crisis has led to bouts of violent unrest.
Voter
registration has been suspended in some places like Manyu Division in
southwestern Cameroon where there have been regular clashes between the
military and armed separatists.
Meanwhile,
the central African state also continues to battle Boko Haram in its Far North
region. The suicide bombings that re-intensified in mid-2017 have abated, but
many people are yet to return home.
As of
November 30, the U.N. Refugee Agency reports a total of 240,000 internally
displaced people in Cameroon, nearly all of them in the Far North.
Paulin
Djorwe, official of the opposition political party the Movement for the Defense
of the Republic, says the Boko Haram conflict has left people unable to
register to vote.
He says
many potential voters are unable to acquire national identity cards because
police identification stations in some border zones were closed due to Boko
Haram terrorism. He says if the elections management body ELECAM and the
government want many more people of voting age to register, they should reopen
the identification offices.
ELECAM
says it can only move into conflict zones in the north and some villages and
towns in the anglophone regions to begin voter registration once the military
declares those areas safe.
The
electoral body aims to register 10 million from the estimated 12 million people
in the country aged 20 and above and eligible to vote. So far, 6.5 million
voters have registered.
Abdoulaye
Babale, head of ELECAM, says they will intensity their efforts.
"We
are developing a new strategy," he said. "In rural areas, generally
people take their time. We are going to have caravans informing them long in
advance and then we implicate the traditional rulers and the civil society to
help us because time is against us. In major cities, we also have our caravans
and [we will] multiply our stations in order to catch as many voters as
possible."
No
date, or dates, for the polls have been set. Voter registration is scheduled to
end the day President Paul Biya makes that announcement. The president can
postpone the elections if calm does not return to hotspots.
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