Democracy On-line

Transparency International

- is a non-governmental organization dedicated to increasing government accountability and curbing both international and national corruption.

Amnesty International

- is a worldwide campaigning movement that works to promote all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international standards.

Freedom House

- founded nearly sixty years ago by Eleanor Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie, and other Americans concerned with the mounting threats to peace and democracy, Freedom House has been a vigorous proponent of democratic values and a steadfast opponent of dictatorships of the far left and the far right.

Human Rights Watch

- is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world.

AnuCamNews

- x-raying Cameroon to the world.

Current State of Democracy in the Republic of Cameroon

"The most important development of the past century has been both ..... simple and profound. It has been the spread of democracy.
Democracy hardly makes the world perfect, but it tends to engender
open economies and more respect for human rights.
Ultimately, democracy promises to make the world more peaceful,
for democracies are less likely to go to war against each other
than are totalitarian regimes."

'Democracy Tells the Real Story of Our Century'
by Gerald F. Seib
Wall Street Journal, December, 29, 1999

President Paul Biya has dominated politics in Cameroon since 1982 when, as then prime minister, he was appointed president of the one-party state following the unexpected resignation of President Ahmadou Ahidjo. Biya won election to his first full term as president in January 1984 and was re-elected unopposed in 1988 with 98 percent of the vote. Despite Biya's reelection, dissatisfaction with the government increased significantly as economic crisis and repression worsened. As the Cold War ended and a wave of democratization began to sweep across Africa and other parts of the world Biya reluctantly permitted the formation of political parties in 1990, after several attempts by the Biya regime to crush the movement for multiparty politics in Cameroon.

The first multiparty presidential and legislative elections were held in 1992 and were administered by Cameroon's Ministry of Territorial Administration (Interior), despite requests by the opposition for an independent election commission to conduct the poll. Amidst widespread reports of electoral fraud, Biya narrowly defeated his main rival by 39 to 36 percent. International election observers monitored the polls and concluded: "The Cameroon government, for which President Paul Biya bears ultimate responsibility, took unusual extreme and illegitimate actions to ensure the president's victory. This led inexorably to the conclusion that the election was flawed to the point where its legitimacy and validity are called in question."

Since that time, Biya has systematically undermined Cameroon's legal and political institutions to perpetuate his own rule. He has minimized the legislative and judiciary branches of government and totally ignored input from opposition parties and civil society. He has also coopted most of the traditional authority in the country, where 55 percent of the population live in rural areas under the influence of powerful chiefs and lamida. In 1998, the Biya regime amended the country's constitution to extend the presidential term of office from five to seven years and to allow the president to appoint one third of the Cameroon Senate. While the constitution provides for an independent judiciary, the president appoints all judges and officers of the courts.

Parliamentary and presidential elections were held again in 1997. Both were considered by observers to be marred by irregularities and the process neither free nor fair. In the current 180-seat Parliament, the ruling party (Rassemblemeus Democratique du Peuple Camerounais - RDPC), holds 109 seats, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) holds 43 seats, the Union Nationale pour la democratique et le progres (UNDP) holds 13 seats and the Union democratique du Cameroun (UDC) holds five seats. The Mouvement pour la jeunesse du Cameroun (MLJC), the Union des Populations Camerounaises (UPC) and the Mouvement pour la defense de la Republique (MDR) each hold one seat. Most Cameroon observers and political analysts believe that the allocation of seats contrasts sharply with the representation of party support across the country.

In protest over the legal framework for the presidential election, the three main opposition parties boycotted the election 1997. The next presidential election will take place in 2004.