People who have changed their areas of residence, attained voting age and who have not yet registered can now enrol in the voters’ registers ahead of municipal and legislative elections coming up this year. Following the electoral law, voters registers are opened for revision every year from January 1 to December 31.
Reports from many Sub-divisional Offices where the revision of the voters’ registers take place throughout the year revealed that potential voters last year, reacted slowly to the call to have their names enrolled in the registers. At the level of each Sub-divisional Office, the voter registration commission is set up and all provisions made to receive potential voters. Political parties represented in each administrative unit are required to send in their representatives into the commission who will work in collaboration with the administration to ensure that every willing voter gets his or her name enrolled in the voters’ register. Considering that there were no elections in 2005 and 2006, reports from many Sub-divisional Offices stated that neither the population nor political party officials were very much interested in the registration exercise. For this reason, members of the voter registration commission hardly went to the field to enable people in all the nooks and crannies of the administrative unit register.
The situation is expected to change this year. This is because potential voters whose names are not yet found in the voters’ registers of their areas of residence are expected to start filling the Sub-divisional Offices as the time for the 2007 legislative and municipal elections draws nearer. The government on its part is committed to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in the country manifested through the birth of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), the independent body with the responsibility to organise and control all elections in Cameroon. ELECAM was promulgated into law last December 29. However, ELECAM is expected to be out in place in the next 18 Months. President Paul Biya in his address to the nation last December 31 mobilised the entire country ahead of the 2007 municipal and legislative elections. He said, "A few months to major elections, it is vital for each and every one of us irrespective of our convictions, to maintain this atmosphere of tolerance and dialogue". He further stated that, "the government on its part, will ensure that the polls are conducted in a calm and transparent manner".
The National Assembly during the November 2006 extraordinary session also voted the bills amending and supplementing some provisions of the existing laws governing the election of municipal councillors and Members of Parliament. The Head of State also promulgated the bills into law last December 29. All these are a pointer to the busy political climate in the country. As political parties hold congresses to map out victory strategies ahead of the elections, they should bear in mind that the massive registration of their militants in the voters’ registers is a precondition for voting and getting to power.
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