Elections Cameroon, ELECAM has cited inclusive participation as one of its focus areas ahead of the March 12 polls. Dr Enow Abrams Egbe, Board Chair of the institution made the declaration at a session of the electoral board where the groundwork for the March 12 process was being laid.
“The goal is to achieve a massive, informed equitable and above all, inclusive participation of all actors in the electoral process,” he specified.
Dr Enow Abrams said achieving this, would entail unity from all stakeholders and electoral observers engaged in the process. In this regard, the electoral body, he said, will carry out the relevant double checks to ensure all is intact.
To him, there is need for “sensitisation and education of the electors for a better appropriation of the legal framework and the standards in the matter as well as during the constitution and the deposit of the declarations of candidacies.”
With the election due in under two months, the question of ELECAM’s impartiality is again expected to be raised, especially by minority opposition bodies and some observers. In 2021, the Human Rights and Legal Research Centre described the appointment of members of ELECAM’s electoral board, the Chairperson and the general directorate of elections as “a big blow to its functioning and democratization processes in Cameroon…”
Another threat to the independence and fairness of the process, remains the armed conflict in the North West and South West regions. Despite the relative calm, there remain a number of hot spots and few diaspora separatist threats to the process.
To Dr Enow Abrams however, ELECAM is not new to the process. However, the specificity of this year’s senatorial election, he said, is that it will be “… a new challenge for the political and institutional actors as well as for electoral observers.”
Different political parties are expected to put up their lists of candidates in the days ahead.
Poise News Desk
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