By Tata Mbunwe
Opposition leader Maurice Kamto has launched an attack on the United Nations, accusing it of complicity with a “dictatorship that crushes the Cameroonian people” after the Constitutional Council rejected his presidential candidacy on August 5.
The ruling, which upholds an earlier disqualification by Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) on July 26, has fueled Kamto’s claims of a rigged electoral process orchestrated by the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) regime.
He says this is happening with international backing from the UN.
“The international community, notably the United Nations, which signed a secret convention with ELECAM on May 9, 2025, purportedly to ensure the transparency of the 2025 presidential election, has betrayed you,” he said in a televised addressed on August 7.
“This international community has chosen to align itself with the dictatorship that crushes the Cameroonian people, showing no concern for the political crime of the CPDM regime against our people; on the contrary, it has sat on the values it claims to promote and defend.”
Kamto, a prominent figure and former head of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM), had his candidacy, endorsed by the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM), dismissed despite legal efforts.
He alleges the CPDM fabricated a rival MANIDEM candidacy to justify his exclusion through an artificial “plurality of investitures.”
“The decision to exclude me from the 2025 presidential election was taken long ago by the CPDM regime,” Kamto stated, linking it to the CRM’s 2020 boycott of legislative and municipal elections.
“The regime wanted to destroy the MRC through these elections and has never forgiven us for escaping that big political trap.”
The disqualification of the CRM party hinges on a technicality in the Electoral Code that requires parties to have elected representatives, a barrier Kamto faced before switching to MANIDEM.
His team presented evidence to the Constitutional Council on August 4, arguing the second MANIDEM candidate, Dieudonne Yebga, was an “imposture,” but the Council deemed his appeal “unfounded.”
Kamto now points to a secret UN-ELECAM agreement signed on May 9, 2025, intended to ensure electoral transparency, as a betrayal.
“The international community, notably the United Nations… has betrayed you,” he declared.
He further asserted that the UN has ignored the CPDM’s “political crime” against Cameroonians by aligning with the Biya regime, in power for 42 years.
This accusation comes amid a volatile political climate. The August 5 ruling coincided with heightened security in Yaounde, where police arrested dozens of people on August 4 believed to be Kamto’s supporters.
Human Rights Watch and other groups have flagged concerns over electoral integrity, reinforcing Kamto’s narrative.
He also cites the postponement of legislative and municipal elections from February 2025 to March 2026—seen as a tactic to block CRM representation—as evidence of a premeditated strategy.
“The CPDM regime has organized for several months false debates on the nullity of the imperative mandate to show that despite this, the MRC would not be able to present candidates under its banner,” he noted.
Undeterred, Kamto thanked allies like MANIDEM’s Anicet Georges Ekane and FCC coordinator Jean-Michel Nintcheu, while announcing the closure of his January 30, 2025, fundraising campaign, promising refunds due to its abrupt end.
“I am standing, I will remain by your side, the struggle continues,” he said.
With the October 12 election nearing, Kamto’s claim of UN complicity could rally opposition forces, though his legal options appear exhausted.
