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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Cameroon: Election Body Reviewing Petitions to Cancel Presidential Poll |
| 2018-10-13 |
| [All Africa] Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... 's elections management body says it has received 25 petitions from candidates and voters calling for the Oct. 7 presidential election to be annulled. Candidates Cabral Libii of the opposition Universe party and Joshua Osih of the opposition Social Democratic Front are among those who want the polls annulled. They allege massive fraud and ballot stuffing in favor of President Paul Biya's ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) party. Cleric Rigobert Gabanmidanha of the Live and Peace Ministry also petitioned for the cancellation of the polls. He claims the constitutional council that certifies election results is controlled by Biya and that many opposition supporters like himself were not allowed to vote. Gabanmidanha says he went to his polling station with his voter card but was told that his name was not on the list of registered voters. He also says he had applied to be a candidate in the election but was rejected for not presenting all the required documents. Thirteen of the petitions to annul the election were from another would-be presidential candidate, Bertin Kisob, who is on pre-trial detention for supporting Anglophone separatists. Kisob, who was also rejected as a candidate, says members of his Cameroon Party for Social Justice reported irregularities and fraud that favored Biya. Cameroon's minister of Labor and Social Security, Gregoire Owona, has described the complaints as a distraction. He says there should be no confusion on the role played by independent state institutions in the electoral process and by their candidate Biya, who is still president. Owona reiterates that all state institutions are independent and act as such. Cameroon's election body, ELECAM, has denied any vote-rigging. The head of ELECAM's legal unit, Mbufong Marcel Kumfa, says opposition parties have no evidence on which to base their claims as they failed to send representatives to many polling stations. |
| Posted by:Fred |