Interview

Refusing to vote is part of democracy

– Enow Abrams Egbe, Elecam Board Chair

**As you have published the list of candidates to run in the 7 October presidential election, are there guarantees the elections will effectively take place throughout the country, especially in the NW and SW?

Enow Abrams Egbe, Elecam Board Chair

I am just returning from the field and judging from the performance in terms of registration of voters in most areas I think there are Cameroonians who want to vote. But you must know that refusing to vote is also part of the democratic process. Our effort is to make sure that polling stations are put in areas where both electors and polling materials are well protected. That is why we now talk of polling centres instead of polling stations. This will make it possible for polling booths to be regrouped in areas that can be easily manned by security. We are not oblivious of the fact that the enemy does not want elections to take place in these troubled regions. But we are also aware there are Cameroonians who want the elections to take place. Proof of this is the volume of registration that we received in the NW and SW. So we are hopeful that there Cameroonians in the NW and SW who will want to vote, and they must be allowed to exercise their civic right.

**Some candidates are complaining that the rules of the game are not respected. Mr. Kum Ihims of the BIYA party raised the concern for example that candidate Paul Biya of the CPDM should be dropped because his documents dropped at Elecam carry a different name from his real names. How serious or not is this allegation?

I think I have a lot of respect for Mr. Ihims. But I want him to know that candidate Biya Paul satisfied all the conditions for eligibility for the election of the president of the republic. But if Mr. Ihims is not satisfied with the decision of Elecam it is left for him to petition the constitutional council and seek redress.

**What is the situation with the distribution of voters’ cards? Are people getting their cards as required by the law?

Enormous sensitization has been done to get registered voters to come for their cards. But you know Cameroonians are known to always wait until the D-day. I should however say that ever since the electoral corps was convened, a lot many people have come for their cards. I can say about 75% of cards have been withdrawn. And I must cease this opportunity to hail those political leaders who have been sensitizing their militants and Cameroonians to go and get possession of their voter’s cards. But I must emphasize here that the law is very clear about possession or not of voter’s cards by registered voters. It states that if a duly registered voter cannot find his/her voter’s card on voting day, he should go to the pulling station with his ID card and be identified on the voters register for the centre. Also for those who could not take possession of their cards because distance constraints or whatever, the voters’ cards are made available at the polling stations for them to come and collect and vote. Elecam even has the prerogative to notify registered voters through their phone numbers to come for their cards. So we hope to have attained at least 90% of withdrawn voters’ cards by polling day.

**Why did you reject the files of some persons who applied to be candidates in the presidential election?

The conditions for eligibility are clearly spelled out in the electoral code. But I must tell you that it was terrible and even frightful what we noticed with some applications. Some files were virtually empty. In another country such files should not have been received in the first place. Some candidates did not have their certificate of nationality; some had not paid their tax levies. I know people will always hang on the 30 million fcfa caution. But this was not the condition that caused the rejection of most of the files. Elecam as a regulatory body also has a social role to play. So we did not bother very much about the 30 million frs caution. This was simply because we wanted many more candidates to take part in the election.

**So do you think a candidate like Olivier Bile who said he could not raise the 30m at the time he submitted his file, but has petitioned the CC saying he now has the money handy?

The law is the law. He had seven years to prepare his candidature. This was sufficient time to have raised this money and also build his file. I respect Mr Bile but unfortunately the law is not a respecter of persons.

** Is there any educational requirement for candidates for presidential election?

No, no! And that is one of the positive aspects of Cameroonian democracy. Here, anybody who feels he has the capacity to be president can put his candidature and run. The only conditions are that you must not be an ex-convict, you do not owe taxes and you pay your caution. Certificates do not come in. But you should at least be able to read and write.

**What are the guarantees that the Diaspora will effectively participate in the vote on 7 October?

That is good and very important question. You that the Diaspora plays a major role in the presidential elections and that is why the General Directorate has made sure all the earmarked constituencies have enough polling stations. We have six focal points in the Diaspora and we registered over 15 thousand potential voters. We are preparing another outing abroad in September to finalize preparations on the ground. We have been talking with our focal points out there and I think all is going well.

**What about foreign observer, have you any idea where they will come from?

If we have to go by experience, you realize that many people are interested and ready to come and observe our elections. In the last senatorial election we had about 400 foreign observers, from international public and private organization from across the world. But I must say it is the ministry of territorial administration that has competence to accredit election observers. They do this and only send us the list so we can allow access of these observers into polling stations during the voting day. So I should say the doors are open for whoever would like to come and observe the election and the counting of votes. We already received applications from the Commonwealth and Francophonie and a number of other organizations. And there is room for internal observers also.