"No major incidents" at close of general elections in Cameroon despite threats by separatists
An election officer counts the votes in Yaounde, Cameroon, Feb. 9, 2020. Polling at Cameroon legislative and municipal elections ended at 6 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Sunday, with authorities expressing satisfaction with the conduct of the polls, despite threats from armed separatists in the country's restive English-speaking regions. (Photo by Jean Pierre Kepseu/Xinhua)
Polling at Cameroon legislative and municipal elections ended at 6 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Sunday, with authorities expressing satisfaction with the conduct of the polls, despite threats from armed separatists in the country's restive English-speaking regions.
The polls were marked by "calm, order and discipline," Essousse Erik, director general of national electoral body Elections Cameroon (Elecam), told a press conference in the capital Yaounde on Sunday evening.
"No major incident likely to disturb conduct of the polls was reported nationwide. There was sufficient electoral material in all polling stations, and all the local polling commissions with conducting the twin elections performed their tasks," Erik said.
Voter turnout was "massive" in the English-speaking southwest and northwest regions where armed separatists had vowed to interrupt the elections, Cameroon's Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji told reporters.
"At the close of the polls, it is clear that the boycott calls made by ill-intentioned political parties and terrorists did not have any impact on the population," he said, referring to separatists in the Anglophone regions as terrorists.
At least two armed separatists were killed Sunday in the northwest region as they tried to disrupt the vote, security sources told Xinhua under condition of anonymity, adding that a security member was also killed in the northwest region by separatists in a different incident.
However, separatists claimed on social media that five soldiers were killed in coordinated attacks in the two crisis-hit regions.
Voters look for their names on the list at a polling station in Yaounde, Cameroon, Feb. 9, 2020. Polling at Cameroon legislative and municipal elections ended at 6 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Sunday, with authorities expressing satisfaction with the conduct of the polls, despite threats from armed separatists in the country's restive English-speaking regions. (Photo by Jean Pierre Kepseu/Xinhua)
"Terrorists are reduced to social media propaganda and manipulation to influence weak minds," the minister said.
Sunday's vote was also boycotted by opposition leader Maurice Kamto and his Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM), citing insecurity in the English-speaking regions and "biased" electoral code.
The CRM has a single representative in the current National Assembly, which has 180 seats, with 148 of them occupied by the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement.
A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Yaounde, Cameroon, Feb. 9, 2020. Polling at Cameroon legislative and municipal elections ended at 6 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Sunday, with authorities expressing satisfaction with the conduct of the polls, despite threats from armed separatists in the country's restive English-speaking regions. (Photo by Jean Pierre Kepseu/Xinhua)
After casting his ballots at a polling station in Yaounde, Cameroonian President Paul Biya called on Cameroonians to vote, "contrary to calls for boycott by some small political parties," Biya told reporters.
Over 6,800,000 voters were registered for Sunday's polling, including more than 970,000 from the English-speaking regions, representing 14 percent of the total registered electoral population. The offical final turnout has not yet been published by Elecam.
A voter get his finger inked at a polling station in Yaounde, Cameroon, Feb. 9, 2020. Polling at Cameroon legislative and municipal elections ended at 6 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Sunday, with authorities expressing satisfaction with the conduct of the polls, despite threats from armed separatists in the country's restive English-speaking regions. (Photo by Jean Pierre Kepseu/Xinhua)
Originally scheduled for 2018, the polling was postponed twice, largely over security concerns in the English-speaking regions, according to local observers.