IRIN Focus on post-election developments

Opposition parties in Cameroon have continued to suffer the fallout of municipal and legislative elections on 30 June in which they lost much of the ground they won in 1997. The crisis has been most visible in the Social Democratic Front (SDF), hit by multiple resignations. Early this week about 40 of its leaders and militants in the Central Province, which includes the capital, Yaounde, withdrew from the party. Sani Alhadji, former SDF chairman for the province, said the move stemmed from grievances such as "the non- respect of principles laid down in the manifesto and statutes of the SDF" and the "non-resolution of conflicts within the party". The crisis in the SDF was heightened by a perception that its leader, John Fru Ndi, had violated resolutions adopted on 6 July by the party's national executive. While the executive had called for a boycott of municipal councils won by the SDF, Fru Ndi issued a communique on 12 July inviting councillors to take up their seats "in the interest of the public and the electorate". He had also mandated some SDF cadres to sign a non-violence pact with the ruling Rassemblement démocratique du peuple camerounais (RDPC - Cameroon People’s Democratic Rally) at a time when the committee wanted supporters to take to the streets to "denounce the irregularities observed at the 30 June elections". Former parliamentarian Evariste Fopoussi, who used to be the party’s communication secretary before resigning on 29 July, said their hope that action would be taken against the SDF leader had been dashed. The SDF’s former first vice chairman, Maidadi Saidou Yaya, complained that at a national executive meeting in the western town of Bamenda on 27 July, everything was done to prevent people with grievances from airing them. Many observers feel the resignation of such a senior official is symptomatic of the malaise within the party, especially since about 10 other cadres and executive council members followed suit. In a communiqué dated 29 July, they said they had joined the SDF through conviction, to contribute "to the well-being of all Camerounians without regard for tribe, region, sex or religion". They accused the SDF of colluding with the government of President Paul Biya, adding that, "from compromise to compromise", the party had been reduced to "a token opposition which, therefore, simply sanctions the regime". They also accused the SDF of "continuing to accept the results of an [electoral] fraud" that limits it to the English-speaking Northwest, Fru Ndi’s home province. Of the party’s 21 parliamentarians, 19 are from the Northwest, and one each from the Coastal and Western provinces. During a televised broadcast on 3 August, Fru Ndi said that despite the denigrating statements made by his former colleagues, the SDF was in fact a national party, having presented candidates for the legislative elections in 175 of the 180 constituencies. During that meeting, and others carried on state radio, he described the defectors as “incapable” and “not representative” of the SDF since they “were not able to win the elections in their region of origin”. Alioum Alhadji, RDPC legislator for Maroua, Far North Province, said he hoped the crisis in the SDF would soon be over for the good of democracy. “It’s not my business to interfere in the internal affairs of a party, but as a citizen and an observer, I think what is happening should be taken seriously by the SDF hierarchy whose wisdom we do not doubt.” However, it may already be too late. Maidadi Daidou Yaya and his supporters have said they will “establish within the next few days a new framework of struggle more in keeping with [our] original ideals and better adapted to today’s stakes.” “We are busy grouping together all forces of change and progress with a view to joint reflection and permanent consultation for finding the ways and means required to pursue future combats for real, sustainable development in Cameroon,” they said in their 29 July communiqué. They added that the opposition needed to be reformed, calling this an “unavoidable condition for the advent of an era of freedom and democracy, justice and progress in our country”. Contact was being made with various groups so as to involve as many citizens as possible in their project, they said. Similar ideas have been expressed by other opposition groups, including some represented in parliament. At a news conference on 1 August in the capital, Yaounde, Adamou Adam Njoya, leader of the Union democratique du Cameroun (UDC - Democratic Union of Cameroon) said that his party was “militating for a responsible and winning opposition”. Drawing on lessons from the elections, he called on social and political forces to reflect on alternatives. "It’s time to set up a union of democrats for democratic action" that would put the common interests of Cameroonians first, he suggested. Five former ministers from the Far North Province also joined the generalized post-election debate. "Time has come for all political leaders to transcend any divergences, any selfishness, any personal ambition so as to create a dynamic that can save Cameroon from the present slump," they said in a 13 July communiqué. Hameni Bieleu, leader of the Union des Forces democratiques du Cameroun (Union of Democratic Forces of Cameroon) is also part of this movement, which recalls the early 1990s when a union for change was set up to challenge President Paul Biya for the presidency in 1992. Bieleu would like an “in-depth, efficient restructuring of the opposition” that can work towards a single candidate at presidential elections due in 2004. Observers believe the ruling RDPC and some opposition parties could conclude alliances with an eye to the formation of a new cabinet, which Bieleu said, could be to the detriment of the prospective coalition partner(s). "You have to be careful because when you enter a system you lose your personality," said Bieleu, whose party has failed to win a seat in parliament since 1997 and, at the 2002 local elections, lost all the seats it had occupied on municipal councils since 1996. The example of the Union nationale pour la démocratie et le progrès (UNDP - National Union for Democracy and Progress) is often cited. The party, led by Bello Bouba Maigari, won 68 seats in parliament in 1992, but saw its tally drop to 13 in 1997. It entered into an alliance with the ruling RDPC in 1997 and saw the number of its legislators shrink to one this year. The UNDP has remained in the ruling alliance despite calls from some of its militants to break with the RDPC, which has 133 seats. The other parties represented in parliament are the UDC (five seats) and the Union des populations du Cameroun (UPC, three). The elections in nine constituencies with 17 seats in parliament were annulled by the Supreme Court and are to be rerun on 15 September. Fru Ndi said he would not join the government even though various sources have claimed that negotiations have been going on between the SDF and the RDPC in this regard. Some analysts feel there could be a repeat of recent developments in Cote d’Ivoire, where the Rassemblement des Republicains, the only major party that had remained in the opposition, recently joined the government. The SDF has said it will stand firm and play the role of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. “Many things are not going well in this country, especially in the areas of good governance, economic and social management, politics, elections etc,” SDF parliamentarian Jua Paulinus Toh said in parliament, which opened on 31 July. “The SDF believes that it can do something at the parliamentary level so as to bring about change. “Even though we are in the minority, we can fight to get the overwhelming majority to accept the truth,” he said, recalling that the SDF had five years’ experience in parliament. In the previous legislature, it had 43 legislators, while the ruling party had 116. Like the SDF, other opposition parties represented in parliament maintain that the voice of the minority is useful and can be decisive. Ex-minister of posts and telecommunications Diakole Daissala, leader and former parliamentarian of the Mouvement démocratique pour la défense de la République (Democratic Movement for the Defence of the Republic) feels differently. “All that is bluff,” he said. “Everyone knows they can do nothing in the face of an overwhelming, robotised majority.” The opposition, he said, should have boycotted parliament so as not to “sanction the fraud orchestrated by the RDPC regime”. “By accepting to take up their seats, they are playing the government’s game,” he said.