ELECAM announces registration of 225,879 fresh potential voters.

Dr Enow Abrams made known the figures yesterday. This was while opening the second ordinary session of the Electoral Board of ELECAM, for the year 2023.

The session was also devoted to the review and approval of the preliminary budget of ELECAM and the Electoral Board's Special Appropriation for the financial year 2024.

Voter registration statistics, according to the Chairperson, stands at 225,879 newly enrolled, representing an increase of 4.46% as compared to last year. Dr Enow Abrams detailed the new potential voters as comprising 82,995 women, 160,120 young people and 231 Persons living with disabilities. The number of voters on the electoral register, he said, now stands at 7,380,944 persons.

He said the 2023-2025 electoral cycle is fast approaching, signaling the need for work to start. “We must acknowledge the commendable efforts that have been made, given the overall palpable results,” he said, urging “each and every one of us to remain focus”.

He told board members to maintain the same dynamism and improvement in order to consolidate public confidence in ELECAM.  He saluted political parties and members of the civil society “who have been so willing and supportive,” urging them to “to continue to play their part in full, and not to hesitate to call on us when necessary, so that together we can achieve better results by the end of the registration period”.

He reminded the board that “…We have set our sights high and the challenges we face are clearly higher. As a result, our reflections must be focused on what defines us, compels us and projects us into the future, safeguarding the general interest and advancing, albeit in small steps for the building of democracy in our dear and beautiful nation, Cameroon”.

With the easing of COVID-19 barriers, he said some training programmes have been extended to regional branches. He announced that over 100 ELECAM staff have benefitted from additional capacity building.

In terms of institutional cooperation, ELECAM, he added, was recently invited to Paris for an electoral seminar and the General Assembly of the Network of Francophone Electoral Jurisdictions.

Dr Enow Abrams said ELECAM will be hosting the third round table of the Democratic Forum under the theme: “Digital and Elections”. He added that the conference will be organised in partnership with the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa, the ministry of justice and the Cameroon Human Rights Commission.

 He said the meeting will be an opportunity to identify persistent challenges and outline measures to guarantee freedoms, human rights and democracy. 

The meeting, he added, is intended to be inclusive as it will bring together participants from government institutions, universities, civil society and the media.

He equally saluted the Director General of Elections and his team for their remarkable participation alongside the Independent National Electoral Commission, CENI of Niger, in the organisation of the elections in that West African nation which took place on June 18.