Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08YAOUNDE1046
2008-10-23 15:04:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Yaounde
Cable title:  

Cameroon: Municipal Elections Bode Well for Democracy

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL CM 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHYD #1046 2971504
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231504Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9368
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE 0235
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
UNCLAS YAOUNDE 001046 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/C AND DRL
PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL CM
SUBJECT: Cameroon: Municipal Elections Bode Well for Democracy

UNCLAS YAOUNDE 001046

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/C AND DRL
PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL CM
SUBJECT: Cameroon: Municipal Elections Bode Well for Democracy


1. (U) On October 26, the Government of Cameroon (GRC) will re-run
municipal elections in six districts where the Supreme Court
determined the original elections (in July 2007) were fatally
flawed. The government has held parliamentary re-run elections in
the past. The Supreme Court annulled municipal elections results in
1997 and 2002, but the GRC effectively ignored the decisions and
allowed the results to stand. This is the first time canceled
municipal elections will be re-run, and in some of the most hotly
contested regions of the country. It is not yet clear whether this
round will be an improvement on the last. Nevertheless, the new
precedent and the opportunity to exercise proper electoral
procedures bode well for Cameroon's democratic development.


2. (U) In the Fifth District of Douala, Cameroon's port city and
economic capital, the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF)
is locked in a bitter fight against the ruling Cameroon People's
Democratic Movement (CDPM) party's controversial mayor (and
prominent former Member of Parliament) Francoise Foning. Foning's
mayoral office was burned in the violence that engulfed Douala and
other Cameroonian cities in February 2008 (igniting stories that
charred voter cards, used for fraudulent voting, were found in the
ashes). Allegations of renewed fraud and intimidation are already
flying. In Matomb (Center Province),the ruling CDPM is battling
against the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC),the party which
historically claimed Cameroon's independence and reunification.
After losing its National Assembly seats in the July 2007 elections
and seeing its leader, former Minister of Planning Augustin Kodock,
dismissed from the government in the September 2007 shuffle, the UPC
is effectively fighting for its political survival.


3. (U) In Mogode and in Pette (both in the Far North Province),
the CPDM and the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP)
are competing to gain the valuable endorsements of tradition
leaders. In Bafang and Bana (West Province),the CPDM and SDF are
contesting a close and highly-charged race.


4. (SBU) Comment: Mayors in Cameroon are prestigious, powerful
elected positions, with the authority to raise and spend local
funds, administer the delivery of local services, and appoint and
dismiss local staff. The Supreme Court's decision to call for
re-run elections, despite the political threat to the ruling CPDM
(which won all these seats in 2007),was welcomed by many observers
as a rare sign of growing independence in Cameroon's judiciary.
The elections are being hotly contested in all six municipalities,
and in one case (Mogode),four rival factions within the CPDM itself
are vying for power. Top level CPDM officials are taking this
election seriously and have assigned scores of senior CPDM and
government officials to head the "finance committees" to boost their
candidates. Given the high profile of these races, especially the
Douala 5 contest, and the stakes for Cameroon's democratic
development, post is sending observers to several of the elections.