It was a much talk about election which has finally come to pass. But amidst speculation and fear of Election Day violence in the restive South West and North West regions of the country, 8 other opposition candidates will battle to dethrone Biya and end his 36 years reign at the helm of the state.
Many had fled the restive English speaking regions as armed separatists had warned that no voting will take place there.
Major streets of towns and cities there have been emptied and Presidential aspirants have largely boycotted the depopulated regions during their campaigns as separatists paraded empty streets on their popular social media platforms and campaign less towns as success of their “statehood”
But after a week of raucous and painstaking debates about the future of the country, all 9 candidates did cast their votes today Sunday 7th October 2018 alongside millions of Cameroonians at home and abroad to decide the future of the embattled central African nation.
Voting was timid but serene in all 8 dominated French speaking regions of the country while migration, gun battles punctuated with genuine fear forced the remaining denizens of the two Anglophone regions to stay indoors, shun government calls for them to step out and vote and ignore security guarantees put in place by regional authorities.
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| Cameroon Decides - The Wait Is Over, What Next? |
But just hours into the elections, an online mews website cameroonitelligencereport was already predicting big wins for certain candidates in what they say are exit poll results, a move which goes against the laws of the land risk building tensions amongst voters.
Territorial administration boss Paul Atanga Nji had warned that some opposition candidates were planning to destabilize the country following the elections and had warned that the state will spare no effort to ensure the rule of law prevails, events of today’s elections only gives more credence to the no nonsense minister’s accusations.
The President of the constitutional council is the sole authority who reserves the right to proclaim results of elections in the country and must do so within 15 days and Cameroon law doesn’t give room for exit polls.
But as results from foreign countries begin to every one now looks forward as to what the future holds for the country as polls closes by 6PM local time
15 days of historic reflection?
Todays’ elections are like no other in the country’s political history. The country is faced by ravaging Anglophone crisis in the two English speaking regions for two years now, Boko haram terrorists’ sect in the far North and armed insurgency in the East.The country’s economy is at free fall and unemployment numbers skyrocketing as many have lost hope I their government and desperately wants change now.
The youths who make up about 60% of the population are tired of the current leadership and many of them have known just one president all their lives
Youthful and energetic opposition leaders like Cabral Libii have emerged as the country’s chief opposition party the SDF suffers from crumbling fortunes alongside their base.
Douala based Maurice Kamto, former justice minister and leader of the MRC is repositioning himself as the country’s new opposition leader and he seem to enjoy the supports from the youths and old alike who simply wants change and thinks he is the man.
His botched coalition of two with Akere Muna was killed by ELECAM when they denied Akere’s request to remove his ballot papers from the voting few hours before voting day as he threw his weight behind his legal colleague in their attempt to listen to the peoples call for coalition in order to oust Biya.
Kamto had warned he will not allow his votes be stolen and vow to use all options to protect their votes.
The country’s army and security officers are stretched with wars in far north and Anglophone regions and would be wary of any form of popular uprising after declaration of elections.
