With less than two months to the 12 October 2025 presidential election, one of the most fragile pillars of Cameroon’s electoral process remains the National Commission for the final counting of votes. The structure, enshrined in Sections 68 and 69 of the Electoral Code, is presented as the final arbiter of the people’s will. Yet its very composition casts doubt on its neutrality.
By law, the Commission is chaired by a member of the Constitutional Council. It includes two judicial officers, five representatives of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), and one representative from each political party or candidate. But critically, it also reserves five seats for representatives of the administration, appointed directly by the Minister of Territorial Administration. This heavy administrative presence tips the balance, giving the state itself decisive weight in the very body meant to safeguard electoral truth.
The memory of 2018 is still fresh. That year, representatives of political parties stormed out of the Commission, denouncing bias and opacity. Professor Prosper Nkou Mvondo, of the UNIVERS party that invested Cabral Libii as presidential candidate, and Alain Fogué, representing the MRC and its candidate Professor Maurice Kamto, both raised sharp protests. Alain Fogué revealed that nearly 30 procès-verbaux that is official polling station reports mysteriously disappeared only to reappear later in Excel sheets instead of the legally required originals. Such practices destroyed confidence in the integrity of the process.
2018 counting Commission in session
Today, in 2025, nothing has changed. The same structural imbalance remains: administrators appointed by the very state machinery whose neutrality is under question sit at the heart of the Commission. While the law allows parties a representative each, their voices are drowned out in a chamber where the administration and ELECAM hold a built-in majority.
The Commission’s mandate is to “carry out the final counting of votes on the basis of reports submitted by divisional commissions,” but it cannot cancel or correct flawed reports beyond clerical errors. In practice, this means that once irregularities slip past local levels, they are simply laundered into the final national tally. When those responsible for policing the process are also embedded in it, the referee is effectively wearing the jersey of one of the teams.
The Achilles’ heel of Cameroon’s electoral architecture is not only in the casting of ballots but in their collation and final proclamation. Unless the composition of the National Counting Commission is rebalanced to remove the administration’s heavy hand, every election risks being judged not by the will of voters but by the shadow of the state.
As Cameroon heads towards another decisive presidential contest, the lesson of 2018 looms large. The credibility of this year’s poll will not rest solely on turnout or campaign rhetoric, but on whether the final counting is trusted. Today, that trust remains dangerously thin.
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Newsroom
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