Cameroon’s Electoral Charade: How the CPDM Election Machine Guarantees Power

As the campaign season in Cameroon lurches toward its dark finale, a grim familiarity hangs in the air, the stench of a rotting democracy. This isn’t an election; it’s a grotesque circus, a meticulously staged mockery that spits in the face of every Cameroonian daring to dream of change. It is not the anticipation of a genuine contest, but the weary resignation to a foregone conclusion. The Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) and its eternal overlord, Paul Biya, with one perfunctory campaign event the entire season in Maroua this week, aren’t campaigning—they’re orchestrating a heist. This is not a contest of ideas or wills; it’s a masterclass in tyranny, a three-act farce designed to crush hope and entrench power. Cameroon, once a beacon of potential, has been reduced to a global laughingstock, its people pawns in a rigged game they can never win. The CPDM and President Paul Biya do not just hope to win; they have built a machine to ensure they cannot lose.

Act One: The Ballot Box Farce.

The fraud kicks off where democracy should begin: the ballot box. But in Cameroon, these boxes aren’t vessels of choice—they’re coffins for the people’s voice. In the opaque corners of polling stations, especially in rural strongholds and areas where dissent is met with intimidation, the simple act of stuffing ballots is a time-tested tactic In rural fiefdoms and CPDM strongholds, goons stuff ballots with the precision of seasoned criminals. Ghost voters—phantoms conjured from thin air—swell the registers. Loyalists are herded from station to station, casting votes as if democracy were a buffet. Opposition monitors? They’re either barred, bullied, or beaten into submission. This isn’t voting; it’s vandalism, executed with such brazen impunity that the regime doesn’t even bother to hide it. Why would they? Accountability is as foreign to Cameroon’s elections as fairness. This layer is crude but effective, creating an artificial base of support before a single vote is legitimately counted.

Act Two: ELECAM, the Regime’s Loyal Lapdog.

Lest you think the CPDM relies solely on thuggery, enter the second act: ELECAM bureaucratic and insidious, the so-called “independent” electoral body that’s about as independent as a puppet on strings. Touted as an independent electoral body, ELECAM remains, in practice, an extension of the ruling party’s will. Its composition and operations are engineered to fail the test of neutrality. This isn’t an institution; it’s a crime scene. Handpicked by Biya’s cronies, ELECAM’s job isn’t to oversee elections but to sabotage them. They disqualify opposition candidates on flimsy technicalities, ensuring the playing field is tilted before the whistle blows. Voter cards mysteriously vanish in opposition strongholds, while CPDM bastions report turnout figures that would make North Korea blush—120% participation, anyone? During the count, “results” materialize from thin air, certified with a straight face by an agency that’s less referee and more accomplice. ELECAM doesn’t administer elections; it stage-manages a coronation. It creates a tilted playing field before election day even arrives.

Act Three: The Constitutional Council’s Final Slap.

If, by some miracle, a flicker of resistance survives the first two acts, the Constitutional Council stands ready to snuff it out. This isn’t a court; it’s a kangaroo tribunal, stuffed to the brim with Biya’s lackeys. Petitions from opposition candidates? Tossed out without a glance. Evidence of fraud? Ignored with a smirk. The Council’s role is simple: to slap a legal veneer on a stolen election, sanctifying the CPDM’s theft with the gravitas of a gavel. The Council exists as the regime’s judicial rubber stamp. Stacked with Biya appointees, this body has a clear mandate: to validate the pre-ordained outcome. It’s the final middle finger to a nation already on its knees, a reminder that justice in Cameroon is just another tool in the regime’s arsenal.

A Nation Betrayed, a Future Stolen.

This three-layered scam isn’t just an assault on an election; it’s a betrayal of Cameroon itself. Together, these three layers form an interlocking system. The ballot box fraud creates the "result," ELECAM certifies it, and the Constitutional Council sanctifies it. This is not an election; it is a coronation disguised as a democratic process. The CPDM’s machine doesn’t just rig votes—it rigs despair into the national psyche. Young Cameroonians, brimming with ideas and ambition, are taught a brutal lesson: your voice doesn’t matter, your vote is a joke, your future is theirs to plunder. The regime’s fraud fuels the very chaos it claims to prevent, pushing a frustrated populace toward conflict as the only path left. Biya’s legacy isn’t stability; it’s stagnation, a nation choking on the fumes of his 43-year reign.

As the world watches this Sunday’s sham, let’s call it what it is: not an election, but an abomination. It is imperative that we look past the calm imagery the regime projects and see this three-layered deception for what it is: not a democratic exercise, but a sophisticated authoritarian playbook. Cameroon deserves better than this pathetic pantomime of democracy. It deserves a future where power isn’t stolen but earned, where hope isn’t crushed but nurtured. Until this rotten system is torn down, Cameroon will remain a tragedy—a nation held hostage by a regime that’s turned governance into a sick joke. Shame on you, CPDM. Shame on you, Biya. And shame on a world that watches this disgrace unfold and calls it democracy. Until this system is dismantled, the promise of a true and prosperous Cameroon will remain on hold.