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CRM against ELECAM : Constitutional Council declares itself incompetent

At the end of the hearing on Tuesday 21st January 2025 at the Constitutional Council headquarters in the Congress Palace in Yaoundé, the judge in charge of the regularity of the presidential and parliamentary elections declared himself unable to give a ruling on the substance of the petition filed by the CRM against the Chief Electoral Officer, Erik Essousse.

Clement Atangana
Clement Atangana - DR

In a tense political context, the Constitutional Council has delivered a significant setback to the CRM. Maurice Kamto’s party, which denounced ELECAM’s violation of the electoral code, has seen its case dismissed by the high court. The court, presided over by Clément Atangana, dismissed its case against Erik Essousse, the Chief Electoral Officer, declaring itself incompetent.

At the conclusion of the hearing on January 21, the judge responsible for overseeing the regularity of the presidential, parliamentary and referendum elections did not grant the party’s request. Instead, he referred the case back to the Electoral Council. It therefore did not oblige the Chief Electoral Officer to publish the national electoral list, despite the requirements outlined in the Electoral Code.

In its application, the CRM denounced in particular the violation of Article 80 of the Electoral Code. This legal provision requires the Chief Electoral Officer to publish the national electoral list by 30 December of each year. On 30 December 2024, the Director General announced the publication of the electoral roll in the communal offices of Elections Cameroon.

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Faced with this decision, Mr Hyppolyte Meli, a member of the board of the Renaissance party, intends to appeal to the Mfoundi Court of Appeal in the hope of winning his case”, states the daily Le Jour, on newsstands this morning.

On the eve of the hearing, the CRM’s lawyers filed a petition asking the President of the Council, Clément Atangana, and the member of the Council, Adolphe Minkoa SHE, to abstain from sitting on the panel of judges. However, “the Constitutional Council was chaired by Mr Clément Atangana and the report by Professor Adolphe Minkoa SHE, who refused to withdraw from taking part in the deliberations despite the defect of partiality concerns raised against them on the eve of the hearing“, noted the lawyers of the Collectif Sylvain Souop.

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This decision is likely to fuel tensions and reinforce the sense of injustice among opposition supporters.


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