Emmanuel Kendemeh
22 February 2008
Less than ten opposition political parties have ever won seats in Parliament and councils in a single election since 1992.
Reliable sources from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation indicate that there are more than 207 legalised political parties in Cameroon. There is on the one hand the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) which is implanted nationwide and on the other hand 206 opposition parties, almost reduced to regional parties.
From the various elections organised in Cameroon since the reintroduction of multiparty democracy in 1990, the opposition parties have had a continuous nosedive. In the 22 July 2007 legislative election, the CPDM confirmed its growing supremacy by winning 153 out of the 180 seats at the National Assembly. 44 opposition parties took part in the election. The main opposition party, Social Democratic Front (SDF) won 16 seats, the National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) six seats, Cameroon Democratic Union (CDU) four seats and the Progressive Movement (MP) one seat. Meanwhile in the 30 June 2002 legislative election, SDF won 22 seats, CDU five seats, Union des populations du Cameroun (UPC) three seats and the NUDP one seat. In the May 1997 legislative election in which the SDF participated for the first time, the ruling CPDM won 116 seats in Parliament. The SDF won 43, NUDP 12, CDU five and the UPC, MDR and the MLDC won one seat each.
The opposition parties have continued to lose more local councils to ruling CPDM in elections organised in 1996, 2002 and 2007. In the 2002 council election for instance, the ruling CPDM won 269 out of the 336 councils. SDF won 36, CDU seven, NUDP five, UPC three and the Movement for the Defence of the Republic (MDR) one council. With regard to the 22 July 2007 council election, by-elections are still to be organised in ten councils where the Administrative Bench of the Supreme Court cancelled election results. However, the CPDM already controls more than 300 councils. The main opposition party SDF has dwindled to over 20 councils.
The situation of the opposition parties has been worse in presidential elections. The major opposition parties SDF, NUDP and CDU boycotted the 1997 presidential election. However, the candidate of the ruling CPDM, Paul Biya, faced the candidates of seven other opposition parties. The results were brilliant success by the CPDM candidate. The opposition parties prepared well to oust the candidate of the ruling CPDM in the 2004 presidential election. Incumbent Paul Biya of the CPDM contested for the presidency with 15 candidates from the opposition parties. This time around the SDF presented its National Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi as Paul Biya's challenger and a coalition of opposition parties supported the CDU candidates Adamou Ndam Njoya. Despite the number of candidates, the CPDM still won the elections with more than 70 per cent of the votes cast.
Another disturbing aspect about Cameroon's opposition is that many of parties only signal their presence during elections. During debates on topical issues affecting the country, they remain silent. With the current debate concerning the planned amendment of the country's Constitution, only the SDF, CDU and the Cameroon National Salvation Front (CNSF) have been vocal through press conferences.
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There is no way you can organize elections and lose. Paul Biya and the CPDM have the rigging machinery in place to ensure that he maintains his incumbency. With all the hardship Cameroonians are going through, there is hardly anything to justify the overwhelming victory for the CPDM, except that the people are tired of wasting their time to vote when the results of the vote has already been decided a priori.
There is no way you can organize elections and lose. The Paul Biya and CPDM have the rigging machinery in place to ensure that he maintains his incumbency. With all the hardship Cameroonians are going through, there is hardly anything to justify the overwhelming victory for the CPDM, except that the people are tired of wasting their time to vote when the results of the vote has already been decided a priori.