PAUL BIYA’S ELECTION MACHINE IS WARMING UP AGAIN: ANOTHER FRAUDULENT ELECTION IN THE MAKING? The same old playbook. The same old players.

The decree has been signed. The next election date has been set. The central question remains: Is ELECAM preparing to administer a credible election—or to manage another political coronation? Cameroon deserves better. Its people deserve better. History will judge everyone entrusted with protecting the democratic process—and everyone who helps undermine it.

By Ali Dan Ismael,
Senior Editor-in-Chief, The Independentist News

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Cameroon is once again approaching an election under a political system marked by decades of entrenched power, institutional distrust, and a public demand for democratic renewal.

On November 9, President Paul Biya signed a decree renewing the mandates of ELECAM’s chairperson, vice-chairperson, and ten other Electoral Board members for another four years. The decision comes as the country prepares for legislative and municipal elections scheduled for February 7, 2027.

The obvious question is unavoidable: What exactly is the government preparing for? Renewing the mandates does not, by itself, prove that an election has been rigged. But when the officials responsible for overseeing elections are reappointed by the same president whose party benefits from the system, citizens are entitled to ask whether ELECAM can command confidence across the political spectrum. The Electoral Code calls for Electoral Board members to be neutral and impartial, while providing for their appointment by presidential decree after consultation with political parties and civil society.

Elections should allow the people to choose their leaders. They should never become a mechanism for preserving the power of an entrenched establishment.

ELECAM’s credibility will be measured by its independence, transparency, and willingness to protect the voters’ mandate—not by the reassuring language of official decrees. Reappointing familiar leadership may provide continuity. It does not, on its own, answer the deeper question: whose confidence does the institution serve?

Cameroonians have watched this political drama unfold before. The coming legislative and municipal elections will test whether the country’s electoral institutions can earn public trust—or whether voters will again be asked to accept results they consider unconvincing.

HOW LONG MUST CAMEROON REMAIN HOSTAGE TO PERPETUAL PRESIDENCY?

At 93, Paul Biya represents a political order that has governed Cameroon since 1982. The country is not a personal estate, and its electoral institutions must not become instruments for preserving power indefinitely.

Cameroonians deserve elections that are free, fair, transparent, and credible. They deserve institutions accountable to the Constitution and the electorate—not merely to the corridors of presidential power.

To political operators whom their critics derisively call “Angwalim,” the message is simple: Cameroon belongs to its people. The people’s vote must never become a political commodity.

The decree has been signed. The next election date has been set. The central question remains: Is ELECAM preparing to administer a credible election—or to manage another political coronation? Cameroon deserves better. Its people deserve better. History will judge everyone entrusted with protecting the democratic process—and everyone who helps undermine it.

As Amazon associate this site earns from qualifying purchases

Follow the Amazon link below to get your copies of publications that touch on the Ambazonian revolution By Martin Mungwa

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=martin+mungwa&crid=34H2FE5XH41N5&sprefix=%2Caps%2C1481&linkCode=ll2&tag=njokings-20&linkId=e92412589264c761461177bc144d2868&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

Ali Dan Ismael,
Senior Editor-in-Chief, The Independentist News