FOLLOWING IS THE REPORT OF
OBSERVATION OF THE SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 MUNICIPAL AND PARLIAMENTARY IN ELECTIONS IN YAOUNDE
A/ INTRODUCTION:
Following pressure from some
Journalists who assumed that since I have observed elections in other
countries, I would “obviously” be on the field observing the twin elections of
September 30, 2013, I started developing some interest in the elections. Further,
when an interview with me was aired on Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV),
this generated further self-interrogation and I finally decided to observe the
elections in Yaoundé as an individual.
I rushed to Elections Cameroon (ELECAM)
on 25th September to enquire if I could be accredited to observe the
elections. This decision was a reflex based on the practices of Electoral
Commissions in Ghana and Nigeria where I have observed elections – it is the
Electoral Commission that issued such accreditation. However, based on the
provisions of Article 296 of the Electoral Code, I was informed that such
accreditation could only be done by the Minister in charge of territorial
administration and decentralisation (MINATD). I was advised to contact the Director
of Political Affairs (DAP) at MINATD. I rushed to MINATD where I was informed
by the DAP that I should instead contact the Director of Judicial Affairs.
Unfortunately the Director of Judicial affairs was absent from his office. When
I met the Director of Judicial Affairs on September 26, 2013, he asked me to
submit an official application. I did so about an hour after that and was asked
to come back the following day – Friday September 27, 2013. When I returned
there on Friday, there seemed to be many other persons waiting to be attended
to, so on his advice, I left and only returned on Saturday since he said he
would work on Saturday. We fixed an appointment for 9:00 a.m.
When I got there at 9:00 a.m. the following
day, the Policemen on guard did not even allow me to step into the building. They
explained that they had been given “firm” instructions not to allow anybody to
enter the building, and that they were further “instructed” to inform anybody
who came for a badge that issuing of badges had since ended and no new badges
would be issued.
Embarrassed by the high handedness of
the Policemen, I rushed to ELECAM again and explained the problem I was facing
at MINATD. Luckily the head of the communication service at ELECAM had the
phone number of the Director of Judicial Affairs at MINATD; she called him.
Surprisingly, the Director was very apologetic and said he got to his office
later than our appointed 9:00 a.m., and that my badge was ready, so I could
come for it since he was in the office.
I went back there and the police
officers, without uttering a word, showed me the way in. I collected the badge
plus a copy of the Electoral Code (printed by MINATD) and a copy of the
“Observer’s Code of Conduct.”
When I had the badge, I suddenly found
the possibility of going to the field to observe the elections alone not too
comfortable so I contacted some friends to join me. Happily the following did:
1) Lawyer Taboh Gideon Chefor,
an experienced Long Term Observer (LTO) of Elections for the National
Democratic Institute for Democracy (NDI) and The Carter Centre both of the USA.
We met in Ghana in 2008 to observe the Ghanaian Presidential election in the
delegation of The Carter Centre, and in Nigeria in 2011 in the NDI delegation to
observe the general elections. He has also observed elections in the DR Congo,
and Nepal in Asia.
2) Lawyer Evaristus
Morfaw. Member of the Cameroon Bar, and Human
Rights Advocate/Activist.
3) Mr. Mombari Stephen,
Political Activist in Yaoundé for the last 20 years. He acted as our guide
around Yaoundé.
Although these associates had no
official accreditation, and therefore had no badges, we only encountered
problems at the Bastos Primary School where we decided to observe the opening
of the polling station. They were not allowed to go through the security Laser
Screening gate, so I went in alone. Otherwise, the officials of the other
polling Stations we visited, very graciously allowed all of us into the polling
stations, and cooperated with us.
B/ PRE-ELECTION
DAY:
1)
Submission of candidature
files:
A total of 35 political parties
submitted varying numbers of files for the municipal elections while 29
submitted files for the legislative elections. There were 360 Council areas and
180 Parliamentary seats. The CPDM ruling party put in lists for 359 Council
areas, as well as for all 180 parliamentary seats. No opposition political
party came near these numbers for both elections. In Yaoundé, three parties
(CPDM, MRC and UPC) had lists for legislative elections while some nine parties
(seen in polling stations) competed in one or the other of the seven council
areas for the council elections.
The difficulty of presenting lists by
opposition parties is not so much because they are not represented nationwide.
It is more because of the inability of their members to pay the exorbitant
candidature fees (see Tables I & II below). As defined by Article 173 of
the Electoral Code, the number of municipal councillors in a list of candidates
can be 25, 31, 35, 41 or 61. This means that to present a list, an amount of from
One million two hundred and fifty thousand (1.250.000) FCFA to three million
and fifty thousand (3.050.000) FCFA has to be paid into the public treasury;
plus other expenses to build the file of each candidate. Most of the time, only
a few potential candidates can bear such expenditures; they usually do not have
much more to help the others, and when the political party cannot afford the
money too, a list cannot be presented. Further, the brief period of 15 days
prescribed by Article 181 of the Electoral Code during which the files must be
submitted, at the risk of disqualification if they are submitted later, is also
considered by some to be too short for such funds to be mobilised.
Another demobilising element was the
constant postponement of the Municipal and Legislative elections that were
supposed to be held since 2012. Most grassroots members of parties started to
consider the “impending” elections as a joke, until the Presidential decree of
July 2, 2013 convening the electoral corps was published.
Table I: Candidature fees for Municipal
Elections
|
Law N° 92/002 of 14 August 1992
|
Law N° 95/24 of 11 December 1995
|
Law N° 2006/010 of 29 December 2006
|
Law N°2012/001 of 19 April 2012
(Electoral Code)
|
Law N° 2012/017 of 21 December 2012
(Electoral Code)
|
|
Art 21(1): 25.000 FCFA
|
|
Art 21(1): 25.000 FCFA
|
Art 183: 50.000 FCFA
|
Art 183: 50.000 FCFA
|
Table II: Candidature fees for Legislative
Elections
|
Law N° 91/20 of 16 December 1991
|
Law N° 2006-9 of 29 December 2006
|
Law N°2012/001 of 19 April 2012
(Electoral Code)
|
Law N° 2012/017 of 21 December 2012
(Electoral Code)
|
|
Art 71 (1): 250.000 FCFA
|
Art 71(1): 500.000 FCFA
|
Art 166: 3.000.000 FCFA
|
Art 166: 1.000.000 FCFA*
|
*, Figure given in Electoral Code
distributed by ELECAM; Code distributed by MINATD leaves it at 3.000.000 FCFA.
2) Stifling
of the press:
Debate and discussion of public
issues should be robust, uninhibited and wide-open. Elections constitute a very
important public issue. They are too important to be left in the hands of
political parties alone, especially when dogmatic slogans are rampant during
campaigns, and most candidates of the CPDM talk mainly about Paul Biya, while
most opposition candidates talk mainly about the age and uselessness of the
CPDM regime that needs to be changed. There are many people that do not belong
to political parties, but who are strong advocates of all types of public
issues; such people would want only the best candidates to be voted by the
people. This is why decision N° 034/MINCOM of 13 September 2013 related to the
suspension of programmes of “political character” during the electoral campaign
period is difficult to understand. It is a decision that unnecessarily stifled
debate, and left the people at the mercy of political parties to promise them
heaven and earth. It deprived the people of the opportunity for political
education at the crucial moment when they needed such education to make the
“best” choice.
Further, the decision of the National
Communication Council (NCC) September 5, 2013 was a conscious
effort to intimidate the media before the campaign period. This was completed
by a document titled “Handbook for journalist during elections.” Although the
provision of Article 113 of the electoral code states that “Once counting is
over, the results obtained in each polling station shall be proclaimed,” the
NCC harped too much on the prohibition of the “publication of trends” as if it
does not know that “proclamation of results” puts the results in the public
domain, and so making them hot news for the press. The use of partisan
interpretation of laws to stifle the news media does not speak well of the NCC.
Additionally, the formula used to distribute broadcast time over the
state media-CRTV left some parties with less than a minute to present their
political programs; this exposed inequity in the access to public media, and
cheated such political parties in the few constituencies they were competing
in.
C/ POLLING DAY
OBSERVATIONS:
1)
Pre-planning:
To
observe the elections, we adopted the approach of The Carter Center. Firstly,
we used forms similar to the ones The Carter Centre used for the observation of
the Legislative elections in Ghana in 2008. We used similar forms to record
observations at the opening of a polling station, during the voting process in chosen
polling stations, and during the closing of a polling station. Secondly, we identified the polling stations
where we would observe the opening ceremony (EMP Bilingue Bastos A) and the
closing ceremony (EP Essos II A). We also decided to randomly select polling
stations in all seven council areas in Yaoundé to visit during the day. The
Polling Stations we visited are presented in Table III below. All the polling
stations were part of polling centres where there were on the average, more
than three other adjacent polling stations. We only recorded the details of our
observations for our targeted polling stations; however, the police officials
we saw outside the polling stations seemed to be responsible for the entire
polling centre.
Table
III: Polling stations where the polling process was observed in Yaoundé.
|
|
Name of polling station
|
Council area
|
Time of Arrival/departure
At/from polling station
|
Voters waiting to vote
|
Police present/number
|
Voters on roll
|
|
1
|
EMP Bilingue Bastos A
|
Yaounde 1
|
07:45/08:45 (OPENING)
|
0
|
Yes/some 500
|
297
|
|
2
|
Lycee Mballa II/A
|
Yaounde 1
|
10:35/11:07
|
25
|
Yes/3
|
332
|
|
3
|
Les Coccinelles A
|
Yaounde 2
|
08:50/09:10
|
50
|
Yes/4
|
352
|
|
4
|
Les Coccinelles B
|
Yaounde 2
|
09:10/10:05
|
8
|
Yes/4
|
383
|
|
5
|
E.P. Efoulan C
|
Yaounde 3
|
15:20/15:38
|
1
|
Yes/1
|
406
|
|
6
|
Ecole de Poste A
|
Yaounde 3
|
15:45/16:00
|
1
|
Yes/5
|
412
|
|
7
|
EP Kondengui/1B
|
Yaounde 4
|
11:35/11:50
|
30
|
Yes/4
|
358
|
|
8
|
EP Kondengui /1A
|
Yaounde 4
|
11:58/12:10
|
2
|
Yes/1
|
396
|
|
9
|
Ecole Mat Pr Kondengui I Est Rustel A
|
Yaounde 4
|
12:20/12:35
|
27
|
No
|
276
|
|
10
|
E.P. Essos IIA
|
Yaounmde 5
|
17:40/18:45 (CLOSING)
|
0
|
1
|
249
|
|
11
|
EP Bilingue Biyemassi B
|
Yaounde 6
|
14:30/14:50
|
1
|
2
|
311
|
|
12
|
Biyemassi Ecole E
|
Yaounde 6
|
14:55/15:10
|
0
|
1
|
386
|
|
13
|
E.P. Nkolbisson C
|
Yaounde 7
|
16:18/16:33
|
0
|
1
|
397
|
|
14
|
Groupe Scolaire Gabriella C
|
Yaounde 7
|
16:50/17:00
|
0
|
0
|
340
|
2)
General Observations:
a)
Opening:
As
stated by the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security, “The rule of law is deeply political because
it alters and constraints the use of power. It is also deeply social and
cultural, because it works best not through enforcement, but through everyday
compliance. ...Elected officials have a great responsibility in creating the
rule of law; their behaviour in accepting the law, particularly when it runs
counter to their interests, is a powerful model for citizens to emulate in
their daily interactions with the law.”
The
general organisation of the polling station where President Paul had to vote,
and where we decided to observe the opening process, violated many norms of
polling stations, and many rules that the authorities insisted that the
citizens should respect.
i)
The
outing of President Paul Biya to cast his vote was organised as if it was an
official visit to the polling station with all the state paraphernalia, an
excessive and too visible security presence, barricading of the polling
stations, massing up of a crowd at the entrance to the polling station with some
persons wearing identifiable party regalia, three dance groups drumming and
dancing noisily, delay of opening of the polling station (we arrived at 07:45 but
before I got to the polling station it was slightly past 8:00 due to security
checks, etc.; we departed at 8:45 without any voting having started. When we
returned to the polling station at 10:30, timid voting had already started
because I saw one person voting, but no people waiting to vote).
ii)
Difficult
access to the polling station (when we arrived in front of the polling station,
we were directed to drive away and park at the foot of the Congress Centre from
where we walked the distance of about one kilometre to the polling station).
iii)
I was
refused access into the polling station after I went through the security
checks. I observed many national and international observers (and probably
journalists) hemmed in at one corner of the hall, seated behind a barricade and
apparently “observing” from a distance.
iv)
The
adjacent halls where there were other polling stations could not also open
normally because of the unnecessary disturbances.
D/ OBSERVATION
OF VOTING AT VARIOUS POLLING STATIONS:
After observing the opening ceremony
in Bastos, we visited 12 polling stations in various Council areas in Yaoundé,
as shown in the Table IV above. We spent an average of some 15 minutes at each
polling station and filled the details of our observations in the forms. In
general:
i) There were two types of
ballot boxes, some in plexiglass and some in plastic. The plexiglass boxes were
adequately sealed; however, in most polling stations, the plastic boxes could
not be sealed because after posing the seals, the flaps on the other two sides
could be raised to create an entrance into the ballot box. We drew the
attention of Vice President of ELECAM Ebanga Ewodo whom we crossed in Yaounde
II (Les Coccinelles Olinga/C), to the problem.
ii) In Yaounde 2 (Les
Cocinnelles/Olinga/B) a voter without his name in the voters’ register beat the
vigilance of the polling station officials and voted.
iii) Representatives of CPDM
and MRC were present in all polling stations we visited; UPC representative
were in 7; the SDF in 5; UDC in 2; NUDP in 2; UFP in 2; and UMS and GC in 1
each.
iv) At Lycee de Mballa II/A, the
picture of a voter on the electoral register in the polling station had been thump-printed
by another voter before she arrived; she accepted to vote but refused to
provide her thump print since she said there was no space for it. This was
noted in a sheet by the commission.
v) In nearly all polling
stations, the number on the cards did not correspond to the number in the
electoral registers pasted outside or in the polling stations, except in EP
Kondengui I/B where the number on cards and the electoral registers matched
perfectly. Since the names in the electoral registers were not in alphabetical
order, the failure of correspondence of the numbers caused a lot of hardship to
many voters who spent time scrolling through the list outside the polling
station over and over again to find their names. We witnessed two cases of
voter that gave up the search and decided to leave the polling station; we
helped them to find their names. We were told that some had actually failed to
find their names and left without voting. Interestingly, in some polling
stations, some party representatives accepted to stand out and help voters with
finding their names on the registers pasted outside.
vi) Voters with no National
identity cards but with their names in the electoral roll were generally allowed
to vote with their voter’s card.
vii)
Invariably, Representatives of the administration always sat
close to the president of polling station – they seemed to behave as if they
were more important members of the polling stations than the political party
representatives.
viii)
Many voters’ cards were in the polling stations uncollected.
ix) Throughout our visits to
the polling stations, we did not meet any observers in the polling stations
except one international observer from the British High Commission in Yaoundé
at EP Efoulan C, and one national observer at Yaoundé V.
x) In some polling stations,
polling booths were made with the loin cloth of ELECAM. However, when there was
any background lighting like near a window, the cloth became transparent and
did not provide enough secrecy because the operations of the voters could be
monitored from the floor.
xi) Polling station 82 in
Yaounde 6 (Ecole Bilingue Biyem-Assi/A), 83 (Ecole Bilingue Biyem-Assi B), 112
(Ecole Publique Bilingue Biyem-Assi A) and 113 (Ecole Publique Bilingue Biyem-Assi
B) were all in the same school compound (Ecole Bilingue Biyem-Assi). This
caused a lot of confusion because the identification gave the impression that
“Ecole Bilingue Biyem-Assi is a different place from Ecole Publique Biyem-Assi.
This created a lot of confusion. It would have been helpful to name the four
polling stations A, B, C, and D.
xii)
In some polling stations, some voters only thump-printed in
the registers, but did not sign as prescribed by the law.
xiii)
Women were generally quite present in the polling station
commissions, either as representatives of political parties or others.
E/ CLOSING
OF THE POLL:
This was done at E.P. Essos IIA Polling
Station in Yaounde V. This was also the polling station where Prof. Asonganyi
was registered to vote. We observed the following:
i) During the day, Prof.
Asonganyi put each of his fingers in the indelible ink in one or the other
polling station. So by the time we got to the polling station where he had to
vote, all his fingers were stained with “indelible ink.” When he removed his
badge and went in to vote, he expected that the polling officials would
challenge him on why he had ink in his fingers. This did not happen. He was
identified, given the ballot papers and he cast his votes, and then dipped his
forefinger into the “indelible ink” and went out of the station. This was
characteristic of all the polling stations we visited; at no moment were the
voters asked to show their ten fingers for examination before they were
identified and allowed to vote.
ii) The polling closed at
exactly 6:00 p.m. since there was no voter waiting to vote.
iii) The polling station
officials did not count the envelopes poured out of the ballot box; however,
the rest of the counting process went on as prescribed by the regulations.
iv) The lamp provided by
ELECAM was too small to light the room adequately, so the participants could
not see the ballot papers when they were raised and announced as those of a
candidate or party.
v) Only the CPDM had a
council list in Yaoundé V. The scores in the polling station for the
legislative elections were as follows:
Table IV: Results of E.P.
Essos IIA Polling station (Yaounde V) as proclaimed following counting.
|
CPDM
|
MRC
|
UPC
|
Null votes
|
Total votes
cast
|
Total
registered voters
|
|
107
|
44
|
09
|
05
|
165
|
249
|
F/ GENERAL
CONCLUSIONS:
1)
The accreditation badge issued by MINATD was not bilingual;
the one issued to me was in French.
2)
We do not yet have an honest, non-partisan administration,
yet “representatives of the administration” seem to be still too visible in the
polling stations, like in other electoral commissions. It would be appropriate
for MINATD (the administration) to give ELECAM the free hand to organise
elections.
3)
Of all the flag-posts on the landscape of elections, the
Polling Station is the one that best symbolises the sovereignty of the people;
it is a sacred symbol of electoral transparency. By law, the institution that
is supposed to ensure electoral transparency and fairness is ELECAM. Curiously,
except for the local polling commission, all “Presidents or Chairpersons” of
the other commissions are “representatives of ELECAM” appointed by ELECAM. However,
for the local polling commission, the Chairperson is “a personality appointed by ELECAM” and there is no “representative”
of ELECAM in the commission as for all the other commissions. This makes the
present local polling commission not too different from the one that used to be
appointed by MINATD that showed in the past that our administration is still
too partisan. Indeed, the activities of the administration during each election
period speak volumes about the partisan nature of our administration. We think
that electoral transparency has no cost; all such costs are only an investment
because free and fair elections breed peace and harmony, create a sentiment of
popular consent and participation in public affairs, and free the God-given
talents and abilities of citizens to engage in productive activities. Therefore
the excuse that there are very many polling stations so ELECAM cannot afford
the cost of putting a representative in every polling station is untenable.
ELECAM should correct this serious shortcoming for future elections through
proposing concrete amendment of the present electoral code.
4)
Either the plastic ballot boxes cannot be adequately sealed,
or the polling station officials were not taught how to seal them. In any case,
the Vice President of ELECAM did not succeed to seal the one we drew his
attention to.
5)
The essence of indelible ink is to prevent multiple voting.
This can only be achieved if the polling officials make the checking of fingers
of voters for ink, one of the cardinal control processes in the polling
stations. The failure by the polling officials in the polling stations we
visited to check fingers for such ink marks, defeated the raison d’être of the
indelible ink in the electoral process.
6)
The “indelible ink” used in the polling stations we visited
was either counterfeit ink or it was not handled properly; it could easily be
wiped off with a little effort. True indelible ink usually resists the effort
to wipe it off for some 24 hours and more.
7)
For municipal elections for example, Article 192 states that “The council Supervisory commission shall be
responsible for the centralisation, verification of vote counts, on the basis
of reports of documents forwarded by local polling commissions. It shall as the
case may be, correct, review or cancel the said reports.” This means that
there is no provision for a recount of votes if a dispute arises. At the local
polling station, there is total silence on what happens to the ballots cast by
voters following the counting in the polling station. Because of the importance
of such votes cast by the sovereign people, it is crucial that the ballot
papers cast by the voters be properly preserved in sealed ballot boxes until
the final results and disputes arising from the elections are completely
evacuated.
8)
The delay in announcing the final results of municipal and
especially legislative elections, and the effort of the regime to control
election trends (see Table VI below) still presents Cameroon and Cameroonians
to the world as people who have refused to progress with the times. It is
obvious that if the process is not changed to introduce modern communication
technologies in polling stations to not only expedite the communication of
results, but also to protect the results from possible manipulation, this could
result in serious problems in the future. Such practice would make statement
like “the original copy of results being authentic” no longer necessary. The
current practice still gives room for results to be doctored in transit to the
various points. Modern technology allows that results could be first
transmitted electronically to various stakeholders, especially to ELECAM
headquarters and other local commissions, before they are hand carried to the
local commissions.
9)
At some polling stations we were told in confidence that some
people were loitering around the polling station and influencing voters to vote
for a particular party. We failed to confirm this by observing from a distance,
the activities of the accused persons. Such incessant complaints, which are
rampant from especially rural areas call for a reminder that Article 289 of the
electoral code (which is a restatement of section 123 of the Penal Code)
provides that “... any person who through
gifts, generosity, favours, promises of public or private employment or any
specific benefits offered with the purpose of influencing the vote of one or
several electors, obtains their vote, either directly or through a third
party, shall be punishable with
imprisonment for from three months to two years or with fine
of from ten thousand to one hundred
thousand francs, or with both such detention and fine...Where the vote
influenced is that of an electoral college or
constituency or of any section thereof, the detention shall not be less
than six months and the fine not less than twenty thousand ...”
It is important to
indicate that such complaints on the field should always be directed to
political party representatives who are supposed to use a bailiff to record
such offences for prosecution.
10)
The voters do not only want to freely cast their votes; they
also want to know that the votes are well counted, and the results are
announced without bias, and finally count in determining who wins their
mandate. We may have our own country-specific political and electoral
infrastructures, but they are only valid if they promote the same universal
democratic values that define “free and fair” elections. Therefore we have to
make a great effort to build and continuously improve the local conditions for
free and fair elections. The fact that no human endeavour is perfect should
never be used as an excuse for partisan rules consciously put in place, or
conscious human actions, to deform the playing field to the advantage of some
individuals and parties.
E/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
We would like to thank authorities of
MINATD for making it possible for us to observe the September 30, 2013 twin
elections in Cameroon. We also thank ELECAM officials for their cooperation.
Finally, we are very grateful to all the polling station officials who
cooperated with us.
Yaoundé, October 3, 2013
Prof. Tazoacha Asonganyi,Mr.
Taboh Gideon Chefor,Mr. Evaristus Morfaw, Esq,Mr. Mombari Stephen
No comments:
Post a Comment