Cameroon’s top court paves way for stay-put Biya to remain in power
Cameroon’s Constitutional Council paved the way long standing leader Biya to be given another seven year term after it declined to rule on a series of petitions alleging irregularities in the October 12 presidential elections.
The constitutional council is now all but ready to announce the results of the vote.
The court doesn’t have the competence to decide on seven of the eight petitions, President of the Constitutional Council Clement Atangana said in a ruling in the capital, Yaounde, on Wednesday. It referred a petition by Bertin Kisob, the imprisoned leader of the Cameroonian Party for Social Justice, to the Yaounde Court of First Instance.
The ruling is “the last stage toward the proclamation of the results,” said Cyril Ayori Njobam, a solicitor of the Cameroon Bar Association.
Petitioners including opposition and civil-society groups sought the cancellation of the Oct. 12 election after alleging various irregularities including voter harassment, the relocation of polling stations and bloated ballot tallies. The council will announce the outcome of the vote by Oct. 27.
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President Paul Biya, 92, who has ruled Cameroon for 43 years, is expected to secure another seven-year term in the election, positioning him to rule the Central African nation until he’s almost 100. His main rival in the race — former Employment Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary — said after the vote that tallies posted at polling stations showed he was the clear winner — a claim the authorities have rejected
The government has deployed security forces in strategic cities to quell any protests that might erupt after the announcement of the election results by the Constitutional Council. The Union for Change, the coalition that supported Tchiroma, has urged the population to celebrate Tchiroma’s victory “indoors” on Oct. 23.
Soon after Tchiroma’s victory claim, hundreds of people stormed the streets and public buildings in the west of the country. A house belonging to the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement in the central town of Dschang was burnt down.
‘Democracy Hindered’
Security forces on Tuesday used tear gas to disperse protesters in Yaounde and the northern town of Garoua, where local newspapers have reported one person dead as speculation grows that the election result will favor the incumbent.
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Prior to Wednesday’s ruling, the Cameroonian branch of the episcopal conference of Catholic bishops — one of the organizations accredited to observe the polls — listed a number of irregularities that it said “seriously hinder our progress toward democracy.”
Among them were the relocation of polling stations without the prior information of voters, along with the existence of deceased people’s names on the voter roll. In addition, minutes prepared by officials from Elections Cameroon weren’t properly signed, while some of the polling stations visited hadn’t been captured on the electoral authority’s official list, it said.
