The Cameroon government on Monday ruled out any plans of postponing general elections scheduled for February 2020, reported Xinhuanet.
During a press conference on Monday, the government spokesperson Emmanuel Rene Sadi confirmed that the general elections will not be postponed. In fact, the authorities have warned that anyone propagating hate speech and defies authority in the run-up to the elections will face the full force of the law.
“The government condemns all maneuvers that amount to blackmail and one-upmanship, and denounces the various foreign attempts to interfere, which are in violation of our laws, and which are advocating further postponements, indefinite postponements, of announced legislative and municipal elections,” Sadi said.
He added that Cameroon has already postponed the elections twice and the law prohibits further postponement.
Last week, Cameroon’s opposition leader Maurice Kamto had announced that said his party Cameroon Renaissance Movement would boycott the polls, citing insecurity in the English-speaking regions and biased electoral code. He also urged other opposition political parties, civil society, and religious groups to boycott the polls.
Another major opposition party Social Democratic Front has also threatened to boycott the elections if peace and security is not restored in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions before the elections.
An Anglophone revolt started in Cameroon’s English-speaking provinces in 2016 after the people complained of being marginalized by the Francophone government. The violence has already claimed more than 3,000 lives. Separatists have vowed to disrupt the elections in the Anglophone regions where they are seeking to create an independent nation dubbed Ambazonia.
Sadi said the government reassures that all security conditions and all measures to ensure the reliability of the electoral process will be taken.
Elections for members of the National Assembly and municipal councilors will take place on February 9, 2020, in Cameroon.
