October 7: US urges Cameroon to respect people’s will ⁰

The United States has called upon Cameroon election body to urgently release election results to avoid suspicion of cooking the outcome.

The US argues for Cameroon’s elections to be free, fair and credible, the central African country should immediately announce all outstanding results.

Cameroon held elections on 7th October, but up until 16th October, the Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) was yet to finalise announcement of election outcome raising great suspicion President Paul Biya’s governing Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) were nicodemously working with the election body to cook the election results.

Already opposition leader Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement argued he won the polls before challenging the incumbent to hand over power to him.

“I call on President Paul Biya to ensure a peaceful transition and avoid situations that may be ugly for Cameroon,” Kamto said

On Monday, the US said it would continue playing a neutral role but urged the Cameroon election body to release the election results.

“We encourage Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) and the Constitutional Council to release results polling site by polling site to enhance transparency and citizens’ confidence in the outcome. Any disputes should be resolved peacefully and through established legal channels. The United States remains a committed partner on electoral, political, economic, and human rights reforms in Cameroon,” said the US.

The US also called for calm and peace in the country as it waits election body to exercise non-partisans conclusion of the remaining phases of the vote tabulation process.

“We appeal to all Cameroonians to exercise patience and avoid hate speech,” the US said.

Source:  CAJ News