Systematic Handling Of Pre-electoral Litigations

One vital step that marked the conduct of the just-ended Presidential election in Cameroon was the hearing on petitions filed by candidates or parties who felt cheated in the process. And some 12 aspirants whose candidacies the Electoral Board of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) rejected petitioned the Constitutional Council hoping for a turnaround.

The country’s electoral legislation notably Section 131 (1) of the Electoral Code provides that, “in case of objections or petitions relating to the rejection or acceptance of can didates as well as those relating to the colour, initials or emblem chosen by a candidate, the Constitutional Council before which the matter is brought, shall rule within no more than 10 days of the filing of the petitions.”

In the spirit of the law therefore, the Clement Atanganaled eleven-member Constitutional Council on Friday 17 August 2018 held a public hearing in the precinct of the organ at the Yaounde Conference Centre to draw the line. Complainants in the likes of Kum Ane Ihims, Vincent Sosthène Fouda, Olivier Anicet Bile, Bertin Kisob, Valentin Egono, Léopold Steves Ndjoumou, Geneviéve Zeh Amvene and Rev. Rigobert Gaban Mi danha attempted either convincing the Constitutional Council to rescue their candidacies or to reject those of others.

The Constitutional Council gave the complainants and their battery of lawyers enough time to each defend their positions in attempts to join the line in racing for a place in the sun. There was, to say the least, electricity in the air in the ensuing legal battle between the complainants and the Electoral board of ELECAM. While the former cried foul on why they shouldn’t have been dropped from the Pr...