Protests Mar Cameroon’s Presidential Polls Despite Catholic Bishops’ Pre-Election Calls for Peace

Protests were equally reported in the city of Dschang where the headquarters of the ruling party was burnt down.

In the Sunday, October 12 poll, President Paul Biya, Africa’s second-longest serving Head of State after President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, sought his eighth term.

President since 1982 in the Central African nation, where Presidents have a seven-year mandate, the 92-year-old Cameroonian is the world’s oldest Head of State.

Constitutional amendments that President Biya’s party, Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM), spearheaded in 2008, abolishing the two-term presidential limit, occasioned his “extraordinarily long tenure”. 

After the presidential polls, the opposition contender, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, reportedly announced himself the winner.

His declaration was promptly dismissed by Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji, who denounced it as unlawful and “a matter of serious concern.”

The ruling CPDM also condemned Tchiroma’s claim as a “grotesque hoax,” maintaining that only the Constitutional Council is authorized to officially declare the winner.

Official announcement of results, once the electoral commission, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) has compiled its reports, is expected by October 26, after validation by the Constitutional Council in the Central African nation.

However, there are reportedly widespread concerns about electoral transparency, fairness, and integrity. Opposition groups, civil society, and media have flagged possible irregularities.

Catholic Bishops in the central African nation are yet to make an official statement on the conduct of the elections.

However, members National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) have been vocal before the election, urging citizens to vote, demanding transparency, condemning violence and intimidation, and calling on authorities to provide electoral security.

In their pastoral letter in April, NECC members called on the “competent authorities” in the Central African nation to address any electoral insecurities that they said could possibly mar the country’s presidential elections.

The Bishops expressed their fear that numerous pockets of resistance from armed militias in the Far North, North-West and South-West regions of the country could jeopardize the climate of peace that they said is essential for elections to run smoothly.

“Every human life is sacred and must be protected. It is everyone's duty to ensure that the sanctity of human life is preserved before, during, and after the upcoming elections,” they said, and added, “We call on the competent authorities of the Republic to use their powers to prevent electoral insecurity and ensure a favorable environment, free from fear and intimidation.”

In August, Catholic Bishops of Cameroon’s Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference (BAPEC), while urging the electorate to actively participate in their country’s presidential election, cautioned against voter apathy, manipulation, and the temptation of material inducements.

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“The exercise of the right to vote is an act of grave moral responsibility,” BAPEC members, who include Local Ordinaries of the Archdiocese of Bamenda and the Dioceses of Buea, Mamfe, Kumbo, and Kumba emphasized.

They added, “We call on all duly registered voters to exercise their civic responsibility during the presidential election by voting in accordance with the dictate of their conscience.”

Individual Catholic Bishops in Cameroon also voiced their desire for peace in the country, decrying behaviors that they said were likely to jeopardize peace-building efforts.

In a pastoral letter that was shared with ACI Africa on August 12, Archbishop Samuel Kleda of the country’s  Catholic Archdiocese of Douala denounced what he termed as “anti-gospel acts”, including corruption and bad governance that he says are causing discontent among Cameroonians as they prepare for October presidential election.

Archbishop Kleda said that the Central African nation is “shaken by multiple evils that afflict all social strata,” and is in a great need for peace, justice and reconciliation especially during this electioneering period.