By Tazoacha Asonganyi
in Yaounde.
The hullabaloo about senatorial elections persists,
but the process of producing a new electoral register that some people claim
would have produced a more acceptable Electoral College for the senatorial elections
seems to be going on unperturbed. Meanwhile, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) has
been claiming that its activities are controlled by the electoral code, even if
it is in violation of the code that it started the biometric registration of
voters in Cameroon on October 3, 2012 and said it would last until February 28,
2013.
With the approach of the closing date for the
registration of voters, the election body’s promise that it would register some
7 million voters started haunting it, since it had hardly succeeded in
registering up to 50% of the promised target. Therefore cries of low turnout
started coming from all over the country, including from within ELECAM itself.
And so the Super-Chief electoral officer, Paul Biya decreed that registration
should continue for another month, until March 29, 2013; and so did it!
As March 29 approaches, we are still hearing cries of
voter apathy although ELECAM is claiming that they have already registered
about 5 million voters. In addition, ELECAM is informing Cameroonians that even
the March 29 deadline can be abridged by the Super-Chief, if he decides to
convene the electoral corps today! In other words, ELECAM has no clear agenda
that binds even their Super-Chief, as far as putting up a credible electoral
roll is concerned.
Yet, the standard approach for setting up a credible
electoral roll using the biometric system is that this first phase of general
registration of voters provides what would be called a “raw” – preliminary -
list of voters. Following the first phase, the “raw” list is published in the
various areas for verification and corrections. This second phase provides a
“raw” corrected electoral roll. The “raw corrected” roll is then screened
centrally with multibiometric identification technology containing a matching
server to automatically detect and delete multiple registration to clean up the
register. It is this cleaned up register that constitutes a national electoral
register that can be used for free, fair and credible elections. Indeed, it is
this last phase that should tell us how many eligible voters have been actually
registered by ELECAM using the biometric voter registration system.
Those with entrenched interests – the spoilers who
made nonsense of past electoral registers: political thugs-cum-bandits-cum-party
bigwigs – have been visibly and audibly active in the field to re-enact their
exploits. If ELECAM goes through this process of editing the raw list, as it is
expected to, the number of registered voters in Cameroon may still be quite
low. The low figures would be a reflection of the general lack of confidence in
the electoral body. The lack of confidence is due to the general perception
that since Paul Biya appointed mainly people from the CPDM into the elections
management body, they do not meet the legal prescription that they should be “independent
personalities … reputed for their stature, moral uprightness, intellectual
honesty, patriotism, neutrality and impartiality.”
Unfortunately,
since this perception was created, the electoral body has so far not made
enough effort to convince the public that they deserve the public’s confidence.
Recently newspapers reported that UPC bigwigs were arrested in Douala because
they were marching in the streets with placards carrying anti-ELECAM messages
reading: “No to ELECAM,” “ELECAM was put in place to continually rig elections
and maintain Paul Biya and his friends in power…” Indeed, such UPC messages can
be said to be the epitome, the metaphor for the
thoughts that shape the behaviour of eligible voters in Cameroon. The people
think that ELECAM does not enjoy independence of action that is supposed to
help it to build public confidence in the outfit.
Public confidence in an electoral body is crucial to the success of elections and the cooperation of the public in case of some unforeseen hitches. It is because Professor Attahiru Jega the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC) enjoyed the trust and confidence of the electorate that when he postponed the national assembly elections of April 2, 2010 at the last minute, the mobilized electorate showed patience and understanding. It is because of confidence in the Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) that the recent confusion caused by “a virus” did not lead to chaos. I doubt that with the perception Cameroonians have of ELECAM, the election body would enjoy such confidence and trust if there were an unforeseen last minute hitch in the Cameroon electoral process.
Public confidence in an electoral body is crucial to the success of elections and the cooperation of the public in case of some unforeseen hitches. It is because Professor Attahiru Jega the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC) enjoyed the trust and confidence of the electorate that when he postponed the national assembly elections of April 2, 2010 at the last minute, the mobilized electorate showed patience and understanding. It is because of confidence in the Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) that the recent confusion caused by “a virus” did not lead to chaos. I doubt that with the perception Cameroonians have of ELECAM, the election body would enjoy such confidence and trust if there were an unforeseen last minute hitch in the Cameroon electoral process.
In the past,
elections failed in Cameroon because the electoral register was “doctored” by
administrative officials, political self-seekers and bandits to ensure victory
for Paul Biya and CPDM candidates before each Election Day. How ELECAM proceeds
to produce the electoral register that will be used for the upcoming elections
will re-enforce or break the negative perception the electoral body is
presently grappling with.
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