Yaounde, Nov 30 (IANS) Voting for Cameroon’s regional elections began early Sunday, with polling starting nationwide at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT/1230 IST) and set to end at 6 pm (1700 GMT/2230 IST) local time.
In the capital, Yaounde, and the commercial capital of Douala, a Xinhua reporter observed on site that municipal councillors and traditional rulers who make up the electoral college queued outside polling stations.
Officials of the national electoral body, Elections Cameroon, told Xinhua that voting, which took place in 58 divisional headquarters of the country, began “without any problems”.
Municipal councillors and traditional rulers will elect 900 regional councillors to serve five-year terms, with 90 in each of the country’s 10 regions, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement has submitted candidates in all 58 electoral constituencies and is running unchallenged in several of them.
In 2020, Cameroon held its maiden regional election.
Earlier on November 3, Cameroon’s Minister of Communication, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, condemned violent post-election protests and acts of civil disobedience, vowing that effective measures will be taken to restore order.
Sadi, also the government spokesperson, said violent protests following the country’s October 12 presidential election had led to the destruction and looting of property.
“Those responsible for the disturbances, caught in the act of committing their crimes, have been arrested,” Sadi said in a statement.
The statement was released as a civil disobedience campaign, launched by the opposition, left much of the Central African nation’s streets largely deserted at the start of the working week on November 3.
Opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who claimed to have won the election, had called for a three-day nationwide “ghost town” protest from November 3-5, encouraging people to stay at home and suspend all activities as a form of peaceful resistance.
Earlier in October, Paul Biya was re-elected President of Cameroon for an eighth term, securing 53.66 per cent of the votes, the country’s Constitutional Council announced.
The candidate of the Cameroon National Salvation Front, Bakary, finished second with 35.19 per cent of the votes. More than 4.6 million Cameroonians cast their ballots out of over eight million registered voters, bringing the turnout rate to 57.76 per cent, compared with 53.85 per cent in 2018 and 65.82 per cent in 2011.
While proclaiming the final results, Constitutional Council President Clement Atangana said the election was free and fair.
Biya, 92, who has been in power since 1982, leads the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement.
–IANS
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