According to ELECAM, Biya obtained 89.21% of the votes in a region with some unedifying statistics. Even before the Boko Haram insurgency ravaged the region, the Far North, was and remains the poorest part of the country.

According to the World Bank, 74% of the population lives below the poverty line, compared to the national average of 37.5%. At least 170 primary schools remain closed because of insecurity and about 23,000 school-aged children are out of school.

Unemployment, among all age groups, is at least 75%. A 78.8 billion CFA emergency fund to finance 94 projects in road construction, railways, energy and agriculture has remained a luxurious desire. Teachers have all fled the region, and international human rights groups have documented the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Cameroon security forces against civilians, mostly women and children.

The political baron of the region, House Speaker, Cavaye Djibril, aged 78, was first elected MP in 1970 at the age of 30. The husband of four fives and 15 children has been Speaker since 1992. He was quick to defend the regime after videos showing Cameroon soldiers executing women and children in Kolofata went viral on social media.

While the international outcry forced the regime to admit the crimes were committed by Cameroon soldiers, there was no condemnation or outrage from the FN CPDM political elite. Everything about the region is about Cavaye, his family and his Mada tribesmen to the exclusion of all others. When Cavaye launched CPDM campaigns in Maroua, TV images showed less than 200 people in the scantily attended event. Cavaye was so angry that the people were calling for change that he staged a public arson of Kamto’s MRC campaign gadgets.

Biya himself was greeted in Maroua with banners displaying less than complimentary messages. But despite all this, ELECAM wants us to believe that these people cannot figure out why they are poor; Tchiroma even claims the Grand North has a blood pact with Biya and know one thing and one thing only – to vote for Biya and the CPDM.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has won a seventh term in office in polls marred by low turnout and voter intimidation. Mr Biya, at 85 sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest leader, took 71.3% of the vote, according to official results. Opposition calls for a re-run of the presidential election were rejected by the Constitutional Council last week.

Riot police were deployed on Sunday to the major cities of Yaoundé and Douala in case of opposition protests. Cameroon’s two English-speaking provinces have been hit by more than a year of violent protests and attacks by separatist rebels which have left hundreds dead. Two days before results were announced, Africa’s longest-serving President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea congratulated Mr Biya on his win.

Mr Biya’s nearest challenger, Maurice Kamto of the MRC/CRM, gained just 14.2%. Mr Biya took the majority of votes in all but one of Cameroon’s 10 regions, losing out to Mr Kamto by a small margin in the Littoral region which is home to the economic capital, Douala.

Across the country, only half of Cameroon’s voting-age population took part in the polls. Tens of thousands of people were unable to cast their votes because of insecurity.

Threats of violence made against would-be voters by rebels in the Anglophone regions reportedly deterred many from casting their ballot. On Election Day, three separatists who were accused of opening fire on passers-by were shot dead by security forces. Some rebels also tried to disrupt the transporting of ballot boxes by calling for a total ban on all travel. Voter turnout in the country’s two Anglophone regions was as low as 5%, according to the International Crisis Group. Official figures give an almost 16% turnout in the English-speaking South-West region .

Witnesses have told AFP news agency they heard gunfire on Monday morning in Buea, the capital of the English-speaking South-West region.

Cameroon’s electoral body Elecam also reduced the overall number of polling stations across the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions, and moved some others from turbulent zones to more secure areas.

Seats reserved for opposition representatives at the constitutional council were left empty as the results of the 7 October presidential election were read out, the BBC’s Randy Joe Sa’ah reports from Yaoundé.

In the days before the results were published 18 petitions calling for the election to be re-run were lodged by opposition members, some alleging fraud, at the Constitutional Court, the body responsible for announcing the results, before the results were announced.

Among those calling for a fresh vote were President Biya’s two main challengers – Mr Kamto and Joshua Osih of the main opposition SDF/FSD. Mr Kamto went as far as declaring himself the winner of the polls despite producing no evidence to prove this.

Election observers from the African Union reported that the polls were “generally peaceful” but added that “most parties were not represented” when it came to who was allowed to oversee voting and ballot counts at polling stations.

The only other group to send monitors was the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), whose head urged candidates and stakeholders to do their part in preserving peace and use legal channels in any challenges to the results (in French).

False claims were made on Cameroon’s state-owned television that Transparency International had deployed international observers, forcing the Germany-based campaign group to issue a statement denying them.

Cameroon’s parliamentary and legislative elections were due to take place at the same time as the 7 October presidential elections but have been postponed to 2019.

Source: BBC

Results of Cameroon’s October 7 presidential elections are expected on Monday, according to the Information Minister, Issa Tchiroma Bakary. The minister was speaking in an interview with French channel, RFI.

His comments come less than 24-hours after the Constitutional Council dismissed 18 petitions brought by individuals and parties seeking partial to total cancellation of the process.

On Thursday evening, after two days of hearing submissions by legal representatives of the two parties, the Council unanimously ruled that the cases lacked merit and subsequently threw the out.

The election body, ELECAM, and ruling CPDM mounted strong challenges during the hearing arguing that the October 7 vote had passed the democratic test.

ELECAM passed nine candidates including incumbent Paul Biya. The 85-year-old is widely expected to be announced winner of the polls. He will secure a seven-year mandate that will extend his time in power to over four decades.

Source: Africa News

Cameroon’s Constitutional Council on Thursday threw out the remaining two poll petitions that it had admitted from a pool of 18 seeking partial or total cancellation of the October 7 presidential elections.

The two were filed by main opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF and the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM, led by ex-Biya appointee, Maurice Kamto. Osih had decried what he described as a state of apartheid in English-speaking regions, where most people could not cast votes due to insecurity.

The decision said to be a unanimous one by the judicial body paves the way for the declaration of results in a poll largely expected to hand incumbent Paul Biya a new seven-year term.

The opposition parties had alleged widespread irregularities insecurity and low turnout especially in restive Anglophone regions but the court held that it was not enough bases to warrant their demands.

The ruling CPDM and elections body, ELECAM, strongly defended the conduct of the polls stressing that the process had been free, fair and democratic.

Source: Africa News

Cameroon’s main opposition candidate, Maurice Kamto, who last week declared himself winner of the October 7 presidential election, has rejected ‘leaked’ results that show a landslide victory for his opponent, the incumbent Paul Biya.

In a Facebook post, posted on Monday, Kamto said results which are purported to originate from the National Vote Counting Commission, are ‘fake figures originating from fabricated sheets of fake observers of Transparency International’.

‘‘In reaction to this falsified victory, CRM and its coalition of political parties and other organisations supporting the candidacy of Maurice Kamto have categorically rejected these falsified results,’‘ read part of the statement.

The National Voting Commission, which is responsible for counting the votes cast throughout Cameroon and in the diaspora, reportedly submitted its report to the Constitutional Council on 15th October.

According to the report of this commission, which has been reportedly leaked on social media, Paul Biya received over 71% of the votes cast, against a paltry 14% for Kamto. The Constitutional Council has up to 22nd October to announce the final results of the presidential election.

In the meantime, the opposition which has called for partial and total annulment of the presidential election, will have their petitions heard by the Constitutional Council on Tuesday.

Source: Africa News

Local media portals are reporting that a leaked result shows that president Paul Biya was in the lead with over 71% of votes cast. The government or ELECAM has yet to confirm or deny the information.

The fight against fake news was one of the core campaign issues ahead of the election. Yaoundé had gone as far as seek the help of social media giants, Facebook, to help combat the menace.

Elections body, ELECAM, on Thursday confirmed that it had been served legal challenges to the October 7 presidential polls. A total of 18 individuals and parties had approached the Constitutional Council.

“They are thus allowed 48 hours to submit their replies, against a receipt. Section 133 (3) od the Electoral Code,” it added in a tweet.

Meanwhile a local journalist is reporting that the main opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF, candidate, Joshua Osih in his application to the Council is seeking a total cancellation of the process.

ELECAM has fifteen day period to release results but opposition parties hold that it is largely a period during which results are manipulated. An Aspirant, Maurice Kamto claimed victory on Monday with a government response branding him as “irresponsible and lawless.”

Source: Africa News

Some eight days after Prof Maurice Kamto of the MRC party declared himself winner of the October 7 presidential election, the Biya regime is still struggling to hold on to power. The Kamto Campaign has reportedly told the military to stop showing loyalty to the man tormenting the Cameroonian people.

At a well-attended press briefing in Yaoundé, the spokesman for the Kamto team said “Cameroonians would no longer tolerate such perversion of justice. Cameroonians of their own free will voted for Prof Maurice Kamto the presidential standard bearer of the MRC in the October 7^th polls”

Information filtering from the National Vote-counting Commission relating to the results of the presidential elections is now indicating a landslide victory for the 85 year-old President Biya. MRC and the coalition that constituted itself around candidate Maurice Kamto have categorically rejected these results saying it has been fabricated with the help of some unmasked fake Transparency International observers.

The Kamto Campaign continues to claim victory in the election in conformity with the truth from the polling stations that was made available in the evening of October 7, 2018.  The Kamto Coalition has also rejected all forms of violence recently implored by the Biya regime and has also exhorted the Cameroonian people to remain vigilant and be ready to fight to protect their victory.

By Sama Ernest in Yaounde

Earlier this week, opposition candidate Maurice Kamto claimed election victory ahead of the official election results announcement. Unofficial and unverified election results numbers have flooded social media in Cameroon, which in the past the government has been accused of repressing internet freedom especially during election time. The early announcement by Kamto has been fueled with controversy escalating political tensions in the country.

Gregoire Owona, deputy secretary-general of the incumbent Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party, has accused Prof. Maurice Kamto of breaking the law by claiming victory prior to the release of official results. The votes are still being counted with many experts expecting President Paul Biya to return for a seventh term.

Internally displaced English speakers from Southern Cameroons find themselves stranded in their own country, afraid to go home, as the violence continues

Conflict in Southern Cameroons has forced hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes. English speakers in the region are demanding independence from a Francophone-dominated government. The government has rejected demands for independence, but has said it is open to talks.

Meanwhile, both sides of the conflict have been accused of human rights violations and those who have sought refuge inside the country want to return home, but are haunted by the horrors they have witnessed.

Compiled by Chi Prudence Asong

African news outlets reported on Friday that dissidents in Cameroon are petitioning the country’s elections management body to annul the October 7 presidential election, citing “massive fraud” in favor of President Paul Biya.

The election occurred as Biya’s government continues a campaign to eradicate the English language from public life, particularly targeting the English-speaking region of Southern Cameroons. Opponents of Biya’s government call its policies to impose the French language akin to ethnic cleansing.

Leading contenders for the presidency — Candidates Cabral Libii of the opposition Universe party and Joshua Osih of the opposition Social Democratic Front — are among those who called on the election body to cancel the presidential poll.

The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency reported that Libii and Osih also urged the Constitutional Court to scrap the election. “The Constitutional Court, which is dominated by Biya loyalists, will have to deliver its verdict soon as the final results have to be out within two weeks of the election,” AFP noted.

The petitioners accuse troop and armed gangs loyal to Biya of using force to prevent them from candidates and voters from participating in the elections. Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), the African nation’s election body, has dismissed allegations of vote-rigging as false, arguing that there is no evidence to support the claims, Voice of America (VOA) reported on Thursday, adding:

The military says it only assisted by protecting voters and that no troops entered polling stations. The electoral commission has until the end of the week to respond to the [25] petitions. The constitutional court has to rule on the claims before announcing the vote’s final outcome on Oct. 22.

Biya faced seven candidates in the poll. He has ruled Cameroon for 36 years, and is widely expected to claim another seven-year mandate.

The recent elections found Cameroon afflicted by insecurity and Islamic extremism linked to the Boko Hara jihadist group and the conflict between the separatists and the military in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions.

On the day of the vote, October 7, the Associated Press (AP) reported:

Polls closed in Cameroon Sunday evening, and vote counting began in an election that will likely see Africa’s oldest leader win another term amid fighting and threats from separatists that prevented residents in English-speaking regions from voting.

President Paul Biya, in office since 1982, vows to end a crisis that has killed more than 400 people in the Central African nation’s Southwest and Northwest territories in more than a year. The fractured opposition has been unable to rally behind a strong challenger to the 85-year-old leader. Voter turnout was low in English-speaking regions due to security fears.

Source: Breitart.com