ELECAM, Un Monde Avenir unite to boost voter registration.

The Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, was signed Tuesday by the Chairperson of the Electoral Board of ELECAM, Dr Enow Abrams Egbe; the National Coordination of Un Monde Avenir, Phillipe Nanga; and their financing partner, Friedrich-Ebert, represented by the Resident Representative of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Cameroon and Central Africa Office, Christian Klatt.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the signing ceremony, Dr Enow Abrams appreciated the excellent initiative by Un Monde Avenir, accompanied by Friedrich-Ebert.  

The main objective of the MoU, Dr Enow Abrams said, is to have an increase in voter registration and to make sure that the next elections will have a greater participation and hope that the clauses of the convention are well respected by all. 

“Collaboration with the civil society is fundamental. Don’t forget that the civil society is one of the stakeholders in the electoral process. We want to let Cameroonians in particular and electors to know that there is transparent, inclusive, free and fair participation in all what we are doing in Elections Cameroon,” he said.

Dr Enow Abrams further stated that they wish that at the end of the exercise, the electoral list should increase. 

“You know that enrolments are done by local commissions in regions. Elections Cameroon remains the only authority to do this work. The role of Un Monde Avenir is to accompany Elections Cameroon in the sensitisation, to increase voter registration such that we can have an important framework and more massive participation as compared to previous years,” Dr Enow Abrams stated.

Enter Un Monde Avenir coordinator

According to the National Coordinator of Un Monde Avenir, Phillipe Nanga, the organisation intends to bring its contribution by setting up young people to form teams to be sent on the field to accompany the action of voter enrolment.

“Un Monde Avenir also supports other organisations and civil society groups in their efforts to ensure transparent and fair elections,” he said, adding that “we will be deploying thousands of young people to 360 councils to support the electoral enrolment team”.

He added that they equally intend to educate the masses because “we don't just need to register people, we also need to educate them so that they understand what's at stake in electoral matters”. 

According to Nanga, they equally have plans on the participation of women as well as persons living with disability.

“Specific actions have been planned for specific population groups, because elections must be inclusive and participatory, so this action must be rolled out across all ten regions. The aim is to get as many people as possible on the electoral list,” he added.

Effective participation at the electoral process, he added, is important to securing an election with the more people participating. He said the more there is confidence, the more there is security, and the more it is legitimacy in an election.

The partnership, Nanga said, also aims at consolidating social cohesion at the end of the election. 

“The aim of an election is not to create tension, but build ties and national unity and for this to happen, people have to participate and thus the need for a transparent election,” he noted.

The organisation, he said, has been working with ELECAM for several years and despite their critical views on the electoral system, they continue to collaborate with the institution and are delighted it has learned to understand and accept the criticisms. 

“For those who follow election, they will understand that till date our observers have never had issues with ELECAM workers on the field. We have had issues with other forces but not with ELECAM,” he stated 

Partnership to last 42 months

According to the Resident Representative of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Cameroon and Central Africa Office, Christian Klatt, the project followed up by the Friedrich-Ebert foundation with funds from the European Union and carried out by Un Monde Avenir, is one to be saluted. 

He thanked ELECAM for accepting the collaboration for the support in the registration process.

“This project is planned to run for 42 months so you will note that we will not just look at the elections in 2025, because registrations into the electoral process are valid even after general elections. So, this means we will continue our work in sensitising and mobilising people to get registered and also to vote and it will be in a constant evaluation process,” Klatt said. 

Klatt went on to note that evaluations will be done both internally and externally with their partners, so as to effectively see and easily track the number of people enrolled.

This story was first Published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3192 of Wednesday August 07, 2024