By Njodzeka Kernyuy
On Sunday, October 12, Cameroonians voted in one of the most decisive presidential elections in the nation’s history.
Amid rising concerns that votes could be doctored to not reflect the will of the people, millions stood guard at polling centres.
Fonyuy Rene, 44, is a fashion designer in Buea, South West Cameroon. Sunday’s election marked the third time he has performed his civic duty. At OIC Strangers Buea, his polling unit, Fonyuy voted in the early morning hours but did not leave.
“I will be here when the votes are counted,” he told MMI during a live stream of the election coverage.
When we spoke with him, he had voted and had only one thing on his mind: change.
“As an entrepreneur, I have lost several business opportunities because of this current regime,” Fonyuy said. “The regime has failed to meet our expectations.”
Aside from just voting against bad governance, he noted that the incumbent, Paul Biya—now the world’s oldest leader at 92—has ruled for nearly half a century.
Fonyuy was not the only one among the over eight million Cameroonian voters who fought for the transparency and integrity of the election results.
This reporter visited five polling centres comprising over 20 polling units in Buea. There, voters, mostly youth, did not leave after casting their ballots.
Many who had voted in the morning returned for the counting in the evening.
“The election marks an important moment for me,” said Ngong Sandra, who spoke to MMI in front of Bilingual Grammar School Molyko, where she voted.
“People no longer see voting as something reserved for a set of particular people in society,” said the young author of Church Girl in Love. “Youth see it as a path for them,” she added, detailing how she trekked a long distance to cast her ballot.
Closure of Polls and Counting
By 6 pm on Sunday, voting had stopped in most polling units. At GS Wokoko in Buea, the atmosphere was tense.
Hundreds of young and old people had gathered, waiting. They demanded that the counting be done in the open space instead of the classrooms where voting took place. ELECAM staff refused, creating a tense atmosphere until police officers intervened.
Due to a lack of electricity in the facility, people used the torches on their phones to ensure visible counting.
Every vote was counted aloud for all to hear.
The centre had up to five units. After the transparent counting exercise, results were tallied on a board, creating excitement among the crowd as they reflected the people’s votes.
ELECAM officials attempted to leave the polling units but were compelled to fill the tallies in the results sheets and sign them for onward transmission.
Though the incumbent seeks to extend his mandate, for many at GS Wokoko, this is a moment for change, as they hope the Constitutional Council will proclaim the same results that are on the results sheets.
Though some areas fought for the transparent process, in some localities images have shown some irregularities owing to the absence of party representatives of some of the 12 candidates.
Since the end of voting, several tallies have flooded social media. On Monday, one of the candidates, Ateki Seta Caxton, extended his congratulations to Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who, according to unofficial results, had taken the lead.
