VZCZCXRO7610
RR RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHYD #1208/01 2780839
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 050839Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8200
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE 0016

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YAOUNDE 001208 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/C 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA ACTION OFFICERS 
EUCOM FOR J5-1 AND POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KMCA EAID CM
SUBJECT: CAMEROON'S RE-RUN ELECTIONS: PREP IMPROVES, MAJOR 
PROBLEMS PERSIST 
 
REF: YAOUNDE 929 
 
Classified By: Poloff Tad Brown for reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary:  On September 30, Cameroon held re-run 
elections for 17 parliamentary seats following a Supreme 
Court ruling that invalidated the July 22 election results 
for these seats because of gross irregularities.  The ruling 
Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) did predictably 
well, winning 13 of the 17 seats.  The small SDF and UNDP 
parties each gained two seats, while the opposition UPC lost 
a place in parliament for the first time in 15 years.  While 
the September 30 election was a slight improvement over July, 
it was marred by major systemic problems and a poor grasp of 
democratic practices by all involved, especially the 
political parties.  End summary. 
 
============================== 
The Ruling Party Wins, UPC Out 
============================== 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  According to the government's initial "trends" 
(final results are not yet out), the CPDM took 13 of the 17 
seats in this election, while the opposition Social 
Democratic Front (SDF) gained two seats (in the Douala 
constituency), enabling it to form a Parliamentary group. 
The National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP), aligned 
with the CPDM in government, gained two seats in the Far 
North Province, its traditional base of support.  The big 
loser was the Cameroonian People's Union (UPC) -- the 
offspring of the national independence movement -- which was 
defeated in its Center Province, ethnic Bassa stronghold, and 
will not have a seat in the National Assembly for the first 
time in 15 years.  The UPC's loss may spell the political 
demise of its party head, former Minister for Planning (until 
the September 7 shuffle) and longtime political heavyweight 
Augustin Frederic Kodock.  The other noteworthy loser was 
Douala businesswoman and CPDM party boss Francoise Foning, 
who had guaranteed CPDM victory in her Douala constituency, 
only to lose two of the CPDM's four seats to the SDF.  Voter 
turnout was reportedly low (lower than 20 percent in Douala). 
 
====================================== 
Preparations Improve, Problems Persist 
====================================== 
 
¶3.  (C)  Post fielded six observation teams covering all five 
constituencies in this election.  We found that 
administrative preparations for the elections (handled by the 
Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, 
or MINATD) had generally improved over the July election. 
MINATD's task was vastly simplified: elections in five 
constituencies and one municipality on September 30 versus 58 
constituencies and 360 municipalities during the July 22 
exercise.  Nonetheless, it was evident that MINATD sought to 
address some problems identified in the July exercise.  In 
the Extreme North Province, for example, GRC officials held 
two supplemental training sessions to hammer home the 
responsibilities of voting bureau presidents.  Responding to 
criticisms (including from this Embassy) about the 
substandard indelible ink used to mark voters hands, MINATD 
provided more and better quality ink this time around, though 
Embassy teams observed some voters removing the ink with 
little difficulty. 
 
¶3.  (C)  Despite these improvements, a heightened sense of 
vigilance, and the generally peaceful nature of this 
election, the electoral process continued to be marred by 
major shortcomings.  The complicated voter registration 
system created substantial barriers to voter participation 
and vulnerabilities for voter fraud.  Flaws in the voter 
register resulted in numerous duplicate names.  The 
sub-standard ink rendered ineffective the single best 
deterrent against multiple fraudulent voting.  The ballot 
system undermined the secrecy of the voting process and led 
to voter intimidation and vote-buying.  (Note: in a system 
inherited from the French, voters received individual ballots 
for each political party and had to insert one in the ballot 
box while discarding the others.  Voters could easily walk 
away with unused ballots for reuse by others -- and we saw 
evidence that this happened.  End note.)  Compounding these 
systematic problems was the poor understanding of the 
democratic process by administrative officials, civil society 
groups, election monitors and, especially, the political 
parties.  CPDM and opposition party observers, for example, 
were involved at every step of the process, but did not 
appear to grasp the significance of their roles (e.g., to 
proactively protect their parties against fraud or error). 
 
YAOUNDE 00001208  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶5.  (C)  Comment:  The CPDM's control of the National 
Assembly was already unassailable, so the political stakes 
for this election were limited.  Our take-away from this 
election round is two-fold: first, the GRC and MINATD are 
capable of running cleaner elections than they did on July 
22; second, Cameroon's electoral system has massive 
vulnerabilities that politicians continue to exploit to the 
detriment of democratic process.  As we continue to engage 
the GRC on setting up the independent elections body (ELECAM) 
and on preparations for the anticipated presidential 2011 
elections (and likely constitutional reform), we will focus 
on these two fronts: improve the system, and improve the 
performance. 
GARVEY