National Assembly : New Members Confront Field Realities

Cameroon’s Members of the National Assembly from eight political parties are now witnessing the first period of recess after an eventful inaugural March ordinary session of the 10th legislative period.
Over 100 of the Members of the Lower House of Parliament are new and are certainly confronting their first realities on the field as representatives of the people.  They are also starting work on the field within the context of the House that has a new configuration in relation to political party representation, ages, changes of political fortunes for some parties in certain localities and gender representation.  The number of female MPs have risen from 56 in the just ended ninth legislative period to 61 in the 10th legislative period. The MPs of the frontline political parties since the reintroduction of multiparty politics are executing clear political programmes with which the population is certainly versed. The parties include: the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP), Social Democratic Front (SDF) and Cameroon Democratic Union (CDU) and the Movement for the Defence of the Republic (MDR).  
The population is however, anxious to see the campaign promises of the new comers translated into concrete reality. Political parties whose MPs are testing the field for the first time include:  the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN), Cameroon National Salvation Front (FSNC) and the Union of Social Movements (UMS). The Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation won five seats, dislodging the Union des populations du Cameroun (UPC) and CPDM   from the Nyong et Kelle Constituency in the Centre Region. PCRN occupies the third position in the 10th legislative period of the National Assembly just as the SDF each of them having won five seats. The Cameroon National Salvation Front (FSNC) has three seats in the Northern part of the country, while the Union of Socialist Movements won two of the three seats in Upper Nkam constituency in the West Region.  The Movement for the Defence of the Republic (MDR) that ...