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Voter registration: Littoral tops in terms of new voters.

Every August 31 is the date set by the Electoral Code for the closing of electoral registers. This means that persons of voting age can no longer have their names included on the electoral list of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), hence they cannot participate in the electoral process. With barely a few weeks left for August 31 to elapse, officials of the elections management body have adopted broad-based strategies to have the maximum number of citizens of voting age have their names enlisted on the electoral lists.  As at July 31, 2019, statistics from ELECAM indicate that the Littoral Region is topping registration with 83442 new voters. The Centre ranks second with 74,507 additional new voters comprising 44,071 men, 30,436 women with 49,896 of the number being youths between the ages of 20 and 35.

Tailing the chart are the South West and North West, with only 6247 and 1265 new voters, respectively. The low registration is probably due to the Anglophone crisis.

According to the Electoral Code in its Section 74(1), electoral registers shall be permanent and they shall be revised every year throughout the national territory. Section two of the aforementioned section further states that “the annual revision of the electoral registers shall commence on January 1 and end on 31 August of every year.” It is therefore against this deadline of August 31 that ELECAM has implemented several strategies such as the use of social media, proximity approach, partnerships with other stakeholders and conventional medial programmes to increase its voters registration data.

A visit to some ELECAM branch offices in Yaounde was met with the staff busy in either registering potential voters or deliberating on additional strategies to be adopted during the remaining weeks. At the ELECAM branch office at Round Point Express in the Biyem-Assi neighbourhood in Yaounde, the staff said they embark on field visits on a daily basis, usually changing locations and stationing themselves in popular roundabouts to register interested persons. At the Efoulan branch office, they explained that each branch office has a target to attain objectives set by the Centre Regional Delegation of Election Cameroon. To this effect, the chief of agency said they constantly update their Facebook page on the different registration modalities to the population. Other measures taken by the officials are working in collaboration with political parties, civil society organisations and others to woo more potential electors. Regular messages are equally sent to those who have already registered, reminding them to withdraw their voters’ cards and vote in upcoming elections.