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Cameroon presidential election: Paul Biya favored to win
Voting in Cameroon’s presidential elections got off to a slow start on Sunday, with polling stations opening late or none at all.
Seven of Cameroon’s 20 million population are eligible to cast their ballots in the poll, which is expected to hand an easy victory to the incumbent Paul Biya (pictured), in power for 29 years.
Campaigning wound up amid general indifference on Saturday, with the opposition complaining that Biya has weighted the electoral system in his favor to ensure victory.
The 78-year-old veteran, in power since 1982, ended his campaign with a rare appearance on Saturday, this time in the coastal town of Kribi, in his native south. It was only the third time the leader had made a public appearance during the campaign.
John Fru Ndi, generally considered his main rival, staged a large rally Saturday afternoon in the capital Yaounde before heading for his main power base in Bamenda, the main town in the northwest.
The opposition complains that Biya’s control over the electoral system is so complete that there can be no doubt about the results.
Although voting cards were still being handed out on Saturday, one electoral officer in Yaounde said: “Not many people are coming to take their cards.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he added: “In a week, we have only been able to distribute 600 cards, when we have received 1,500 of them.”
More than 6,000 election observers have been accredited to monitor voting at more than 24,000 voting stations across the country, and some abroad.
On September 29, two grenades were found in a voting station at Elecam in the Limbe region in the southwest of the country.
The markets were busy on Saturday as people stocked up on food, in anticipation of possible post-election unrest.
There were food shortages in February 2008, as people rioted against the high cost of living and moves by the president to end the limit on presidential mandates, reforms that were passed a few weeks later.
Official figures put the death toll during the unrest at 40; rights groups said the true figure was 139.
France’s consulate advised its citizens living in Cameroon to avoid voting stations, to stay away from crowds and only to go out if strictly necessary.
Rap star General Valsero, an outspoken critic of Biya, even called on people to return blank voting slips, saying none of the 23 candidates deserved their support.
Copyright 2011 AFP.