Cameroon: President Paul Biya announces date for first-ever regional election

President Paul Biya has announced the date of the regional election to be held on December 6, 2020, according to a news report by Cameroon online.

Regional elections in Cameroon are provided for in the 1996 constitution but have never taken place. It will be an indirect ballot during which electoral colleges will choose 90 regional councilors with limited powers, including 20 representatives of traditional chiefdoms. 

Today, I signed a decree to convene the electoral colleges for the election of Regional Councillors. #PaulBiya#Cameroon#237Vote pic.twitter.com/rWD0QXYxxB

— President Paul BIYA (@PR_Paul_BIYA) September 7, 2020

Among the opponents, Maurice Kamto's Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC) and the Social Democratic Front (SDF) have already said that they would boycott, unlike Cabral Libii's movement.

The government, through the voice of its Minister of Territorial Administration, says it wants to speed up the decentralization process and threatens against any attempt to disturb public order. And it is a Paul Atanga Nji, Minister of Territorial Administration, resolutely offensive who presented himself to the press, only a few hours after the convocation by Paul Biya of the electorate for December 6, 2020.

"We have heard that certain leaders of political parties in decline have launched irresponsible slogans by laying down preconditions for the holding of the election of regional councils, failing which they will initiate actions aimed at destabilizing the institutions. republican and against the one who embodies them, his excellence Paul Biya."