Municipal polls:  ELECAM throttles for more voters, but....

Civil society, opposition leaders and international elections observers have consistently raised alarmed that limiting voting age to 20, against the universal democratic practice of 18, deprives the youth of their inalienable right to choose the leaders they want.

But the ruling party, with an obsessed majority in parliament, understanding how critical the youth, most unemployed or underemployed and have been agitating for change are, has not cared a damn to amend the electoral law.

Instead, the CPDM, understandably with a commanding majority in the legislature and municipal councils, has only amended the electoral law to give the Head of State the prerogative to postpone the election, as long as he wants.

For instance, according the decree of May 4, 2026, the President of the Republic extended the term of municipal councillors, for the second time, to February 28, 2027, and that of parliamentarians until December 20, 2027.

The gymnastics have been accepted as legal, but not legitimate, as there were no tangible reasons to cause the postponements on two occasions.

The municipal election is, however, the next on the national radar. Unlike the Presidential election, where there is only one winner, the Senate, with 100 and National Assembly, with 180 members, the coming council elections will produce from 25 to 61 councillors in each of the 360 Subdivisions in the country.

Unlike the Presidential election, where results are compiled at the Divisional level, passing through ELECAM, to the Vote-Counting Commission and end at the Constitutional Council for declaration of results, “within 15 days”, those of municipal elections are declared at each Subdivisional office the same day.

So, it leaves little or no time to manipulate the results, an offence some of the workers of ELECAM have been accused of in previous Presidential polls. 

Bent on picking up the pieces to organise an election accepted as inclusive, credible, transparent and open, ELECAM, last week, announced that it has multiplied its awareness, digital campaign strategies and redeployed human resources across the entire country to get people registered.

At a meeting in Yaounde, Erik Essousse, the Director General of Elections at ELECAM, announced that 107,412 new voters had been added to the electoral roll as of May 21, 2026. Of that figure, he said, 71,941 are young people between the ages of 20 and 35.

To increase participation, ELECAM plans to expand its outreach efforts. The institution intends to deploy more mobile registration teams, continue distributing voter cards, strengthen communication through traditional and digital media, and work more closely with administrative, traditional, and religious authorities.

Particular attention is being given to young people, women, and citizens living in areas with limited access to local ELECAM offices. 

The electoral body says the goal is to bring voter services closer to communities and improve service delivery at local branches.

It is also highlighting a digital awareness campaign, launched last April, to explain the key elements of the annual voter roll revision process. 

The campaign runs across the institution’s digital platforms, including Facebook, X, WhatsApp, and its website.

The campaign is said to provide information on voter registration, record verification, voter removal procedures, and polling station changes.

According to its boss, the digital initiative helps strengthen voter education and counter misinformation surrounding the electoral process.

The Guardian Post, while appreciative the initiatives, points out that communication and awareness are only part of the challenge. 

The credibility of the voter roll also depends on the accuracy of voter data, the effective distribution of voter cards, and equal access to registration services.

While The Guardian Post again congratulates ELECAM for the efforts it is making to get more Cameroonians on the voters’ register, all political parties and civil society should participate in getting their supporters on the voter’s list, not only out of civic altruism, but because it is the only legal power they have to decide who governs them at the local levels.

The sad saga of election results “being known before the votes”, to quote Archbishop Samuel Klebda of Douala, which discourages voters, may hold sway for Presidential polls, but certainly not at council level.

The coming days before August 31, 2026, will be a test of the politicians' ability to mobilise effectively, beyond mere rhetoric and ELECAM’s ability to perform beyond suspicion of partiality.

But and it is paramount, from this point on the issue shifts from mobilisation to ensure a bloated register to the preponderant issues of getting people to vote, trust in the arbiter, especially ELECAM and the Ministry of Territorial Administration, MINAT, which “accompanies” the electoral body.

In nearly all electoral cycles, the perception demonstrated in a segment of public opinion rightly or wrongly, based on their responsibility for organising, overseeing, or judging the electoral process, has not portrayed them to be sufficiently independent.

The nexus of the problem goes beyond the victory or defeat of a candidate. What is at stake is the institutional capacity to produce results that are accepted without qualms, even by the losers as in most football matches.

Where they are not accepted as such, an institutional crisis erupts, and ELECAM in particular is called into question, MINAT is accused of bias and the result is post-election fatal violence, which should be avoided in the coming polls with all actors displaying unquestionable impartiality. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3839 of Monday July 06, 2026