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Reactions on the October 11 Presidential election continue to trickle in as final vote counting draws to the end in Yaounde. In one of such reactions yesterday, the United States Ambassador to Cameroon, Niels Marquardt, described the election as having taken place in a calm and peaceful environment with Cameroonians demonstrating admirable restraint during both the election and post-election periods. Mr Marquardt told pressmen that election material were distributed in time and polling station presidents received more training than in previous years. Against this backdrop, he congratulated the people of Cameroon on the conduct of the election. "This election marks a positive step forward for this country’s evolving democracy", he said.
The United States embassy is one of the diplomatic missions in Cameroon that observed the just ended election. The embassy team included 34 accredited observers who were stationed in all the ten provinces on Cameroon. As explained by Niels Marquardt, the team was the largest diplomatic group in the country. The U.S Ambassador issued the statement stating inter alia that it was the only official statement made by the U.S embassy concerning the 2004 Presidential Election. He however assured that the embassy will transmit its detail observations to the appropriate authorities in a later date.
Mr Marquardt, who was speaking during a double event yesterday at the Embassy; the launching of the Self-Help and Democracy and Human Rights Projects in Cameroon, however said they had identified some irregularities in the election. But that these cannot compromise the results. "We do not believe, however, that these irregularities were severe enough to impact the final outcome", he said. He described them in the following manner, "despite the progress made, embassy observers witnessed a number of electoral irregularities particularly with regards to the registration process, methods of identifying voters, the distribution of ballot papers and the poor quality of the ink used to identify people who had already voted." He said such irregularities appeared to have led to high levels of voter confusion and apathy. The American observers, he said, equally had questions about the "source of funding for some of the more extensive campaigns."
The U.S boss in Cameroon told journalists that the embassy and the United States government remain committed to enhancing democracy in Cameroon. "Establishing a thriving and successful democracy is a continual process", he said. He expressed the embassy’s determination to maintain close collaboration with the administration, the National Elections Observatory, civil society and other partners who are working to enhance development in Cameroon.
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