Cameroon Decides: The road to the final presidential list

Greeting Steemit Family

I'm still following the current election fever in my country, and it's not easy, as you can see from me sharing my thoughts. This shows how concerned I am about the whole process. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, ELECAM has reduced the number of candidates from 83 to 13. However, that is not the final stage of the process for applying to run for the highest office in my country, Cameroon.

I did mention that filing documents was just the first step. Now, those whose candidacies were rejected by ELECAM (the election body) can appeal to the Constitutional Council. We had all been speculating on the possible reasons why most candidates' files were rejected. Now, ELECAM has published a list showing the different candidates and the reasons for their disqualification.

Just as I speculated, most of the independent candidates could not meet the requirement of 300 signatures. To be honest, that’s a very difficult task. This is because most of the eligible signatories are from the ruling party, and I’m very sure it’s hard to convince them to go against their party and endorse a candidate running in opposition to their own.

^source

Other reasons also came up. Some candidates did not present a birth certificate, which is a document that proves you were born in Cameroon. It also helps determine your age, because anyone running for president must be at least 35 years old. Without this document, it can be seen as a lack of proof that you are Cameroonian by birth. I don’t know what the law says about a Cameroonian born abroad, but I do know that with dual nationality, you are not eligible to hold high-ranking public positions.

Another issue was the lack of a voter card or proof of registration for the upcoming elections. That makes sense. How can you expect others to vote for you when you have not even registered yourself? No matter the position you are contesting, you are your first vote. So that was another reason some candidates were disqualified.

Then there was the case of missing proof of payment of the 30 million CFA francs caution fee. Every candidate is expected to pay this amount to the state and submit the receipt along with their documents to ELECAM. In some cases, this receipt was missing, which technically means the candidate had not paid the fee.

From my findings, this money can be reimbursed under certain conditions:

• If a candidate withdraws before the ballot papers are printed, the 30 million will be returned.
• If the candidate obtains at least 10% of the total votes, the amount will also be reimbursed. (This one hard ooh for this country!) Meaning that 10% is very difficult to achieve in Cameroon.

But if a candidate drops out after the ballot papers have been printed, or fails to secure at least 10% of the vote, they lose the money. Hahaha! That has often been the case with the opposition in past elections. The ruling party usually gets close to 90%, and the rest is shared among the remaining candidates.

Another issue was the lack of a declared profession. Now you can understand why I said in an earlier post that the high number of people who submitted their candidacies made it seem like a joke. Some individuals without any professional background or public service record filed to run for the highest office in the country. Well, it is their civil right, provided they meet the eligibility requirements.

As of now, 32 candidates have filed appeals with the Constitutional Council regarding the rejection of their candidacies. I’m strongly following the updates, this year is a decisive one for my country. The Constitutional Council will now review the appeals and publish the final list of approved candidates. That will be the last and official step for those contesting the presidential position.

---

---

Cheers
Thanks for dropping by
@fombae