Politics

Voter registration in Meme: Political parties missing in action.

Political parties are missing in action in Meme Division of the South West Region, in the face of multiple campaigns to boost enrollment of potential voters on the electoral register.
The situation has left many political observers linking the laxity to voter apathy.

Yet, there are those who blame the lack of action from political parties on the wrong priority of leaders, who rather spend time chasing other interests instead of supporting the elections management body, Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, to boost voter registration.

Others say the lack of grassroots action to boost voter registration would only result in claims of election rigging, when voters cast their ballots in 2025.

Speaking to The Guardian Post, the Imam of the Kumba Central Mosque, who is also First Deputy Mayor of Kumba II Council, Nasirou Ibrahim Audu, said he has been on the field.

Nasirou indicated that he has been organising football competitions in different neighborhoods of Kumba II, to boost voter registration exercise.

He, however, admitted being aware of the lukewarm attitude of some stakeholders in the electoral process.

Nasirou said even within his party, the CPDM, there are some officials who don’t border about boosting voter registration.

The Social Democratic Front, SDF, which is known to have a huge following in Kumba, has also being largely absent in the push to get more persons enroll on the voter register.

One of the supporters of the SDF, Soleiman Mohammed, told The Guardian Post that they have been visiting social groups to get people enlist on the voters’ register.

Meantime, other political parties like the Popular Action Party, PAP; the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU; and the National Alliance for Democracy and Progress, ANDP; are among others completely absent on the field.

The voters’ register used in the 2020 twin polls, analysts say, must be updated and cleaned to ensure the credibility of the process.

Local party officials, they say, are versed with the identities of supporters who have either died or have travelled out of the country.

In Kumba I, III, Konye and Mbonge Subdivisions, politicians and other party officials are believed to be banking on the old electoral register to ‘win’ elections in 2025.

As the clock ticks towards the August 31st deadline for the registration of new voters, pundits say there is need for political actors across Meme Division to step up their game before it is too late.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3149 of Tuesday June 25, 2024