By Ajong Mbapndah L (Originally published in AfricaFiles)
After more than a decade of elections generally believed to have multiple flaws, Cameroon seems to have embarked on an exercise to overhaul the electoral process. While this may just be another exercise in futility aimed at distracting attention or cajoling the international community, many however agree that there is need for vital reforms to be carried out ahead of municipal and legislative elections scheduled for 2007.
At the invitation of President Paul Biya, a delegation of Commonwealth experts met in February 2006 with a Ministerial Committee designated by him to review modalities for the establishment of an Independent Election Management Structure which has been the hue and cry of the opposition, civil society and independent observers. The Commonwealth Delegation led by former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clerk re-echoed after the 2004 Presidential elections, the need for a truly Independent Organ to manage elections in Cameroon, a view shared earlier by organizations of repute such as the National Democratic Institute in the USA.
However there are many who agree that electoral reforms should not be limited only to the creation of an Independent and neutral body alone. It is paradoxical, for instance, that whereas by the age of eighteen one is criminally responsible, it is only at the age of twenty one that one can have the right to vote. It is equally unfair that independent candidates are not given the opportunity to stand for municipal and legislative elections - and in the case for Presidential elections where there is a chance, but the conditions are so draconian and almost impossible to meet given the existing circumstances.
In a bid to press for reforms in this direction a group of citizens under the platform of “Committee For The Participation Of Independent Candidates In The Electoral Process” recently submitted a memo to the President of the Republic expressing the view that independent candidates be given a chance to contest in the Municipal and Legislative Elections of 2007.
The Committee, which has as Spokesperson, Writer and Pan Africanist, Mwalimu George Ngwane, who is also Executive Director of AFRICAphonie, recalls that between 1945 and 1966, individuals stood as independents for elections in both West and East Cameroon. The electoral system in the former Southern Cameroons between 1946 and 1961, for instance, made running as an Independent possible. Article 46 of the Electoral Regulations of 17 May 1951 expected Independent candidates to fulfill easy conditions like their name, address and description, the name, address and description of the nominators of the candidates, statements by the candidates showing willingness and a qualification to stand for elections and a deposit of Ten Pounds refundable should the nomination be withdrawn or obtaining one tenth of the total vote.
The advent of the one party system barred the possibility of Independent candidates to participate in the electoral process.
With the return of multi-party politics in the early 90s various legal instruments vouched for the eligibility of Independent candidates at the Presidential elections but not the Municipal and Legislative Elections. Law No .92/010 of September 1992 on conditions to fill vacancies in the Presidency of the Republic stipulates in Articles 55 and 57 that nominations are either by political parties or independent candidates. This is however made herculean by the clause that the Independent candidate must produce three hundred legalized signatures from the Electoral College who should be members of the National Assembly, Consular Chambers, Councilors, and First Class Chiefs from all the ten provinces.
The absence of independent candidates at successive Presidentials despite the willingness since 1992 is attributed to this proviso which the Committee sees as discriminatory in the light of the constitution, unrealistic in the prevailing situation of the country with some Provinces unable to produce their quota, and unconvincing too because none of these categories of voters is independent enough to endorse an Independent candidate as virtually all of them are members of parties and will rather hang onto party discipline.
Worthy of note is the fact that successive elections in Cameroon have seen the participation of political leaders who can hardly boast of a hundred militants talk less of getting three hundred signatures from all the Provinces as expected of Independent Candidates.
The reasons that militate in favour of Independent candidates standing for elections are many beginning with the 1996 Constitution of Cameroon, which states in Article 2.1 that National Sovereignty shall be vested in the people of Cameroon, and no section of the people shall arrogate to itself the power thereof.
Hanging eligibility to participate in elections to membership in a political party is like holding the people ransom. The Committee cites resolutions of the Organisation of African Unity at its 38th session in Durban, South Africa which recognizes the freedom of individuals and political parties to campaign and express political opinions, and Article 2(1) of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights which stipulates that everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country directly or through freely chosen representatives to strengthen their case.
With the belief that a candidate based electoral system would enhance competition and expand the democratic space narrowed by the party centered system in Cameroon, the Committee opines strongly that the presence of Independent candidates would give room for the electorate to focus on the important elements such as individual merit. This is quite apt especially when in Cameroon the standards used in selecting candidates are based more often than not on the whims and caprices of party leaders.
Examples are legion of people irrespective of the political divide endowed with the potentials of rendering quality services and standing a chance to win as Independent candidates in elections but who end up frustrated and denied a chance because of differences with a party leadership which is reluctant to differentiate between the party and the leader. Whereas the present dispensation has seen an old generation with diminishing returns monopolizing the political arena in Cameroon, Independent candidatures the Committee believes, will provide the possibility of a younger generation emerging with prospects of a new vision, and a fresh agenda to the body politic of the country.
Candidate based electoral processes are doing great in many African countries. Examples cited by the Committee are Ivory Coast where the Municipal elections of March 2001 saw 38 out of 195 local councils grabbed by Independents. In Swaziland where the Legislatives of October 1993 saw the election of all thirty members of the Senate as Independents. From 1986 to 2006, Uganda had a no party democracy movement with legislative and municipal elections conducted through independent candidates. In May 2002, Ahmadou Toumani Toure won Presidential elections in Mali as an Independent candidate. Most recently Yayi Boni emerged victorious in Presidential elections in Benin as an Independent candidate.
In Cameroon ahead of the October 2004 Presidential elections, which many agreed failed to obtain a pass mark; there were calls and efforts to get an Independent candidate to run. When it is well known that even some prominent opposition figures went paranoid at the mention of the idea that a Senior Cadre at a United States Election watchdog should be asked to stand as a unique candidate for the opposition in the 2004 Presidential elections, then one can imagine the task ahead of the Committee. Despite the well founded believe that the CPDM regime and its leader for all the donkey years spent in power has fared way below expectations, the opposition with circa two hundred parties is still to give Cameroonians much reason to hope.
The wave of intolerance that has gripped the leading opposition party, the reluctance to accept debate and contradictory views, the systematic dismissal of even highly competent Officials on spurious charges, the inability to show a clear cut distinction between policy and practice from those of the ruling party etc are all indications that it is time for Independent Candidates to be given a chance so that the martyrdom suffered over the years by so many fighting for change in the country will not go wasted
*Ajong Mbapndah L. is a Jurist and a democracy advocate. He belongs to AFRICAphonie, a pan-African Organisation with headquarters in Cameroon.
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