2025 Presidential Election: Voters Registration Rate By The Cameroon Diaspora Remains Very Low

Out of the estimated 7 million Cameroonians living outside the country, less than 30,000 have so far registered

The situation was worse at the 2018 presidential election where only a total of 19,420 registered, and worse still, only 9,342 of them, that is 48.11 %, actually voted

 Deputy SG of the CPDM, Gregoire Owona, and other CPDM militants, used the low voters’ registration rate by the diaspora, to make a mockery of the May 31, 2025 mega rally in Paris that MRC leader and presidential aspirant, Maurice Kamto, chaired. 

According to the organizers of the mega rally that was organized in Paris, France on May 31, 2025, and chaired by the National President of MRC and presidential aspirant, Prof Maurice KAMTO, some 50,000 persons attended the rally. It was a grand and colourful event, indeed. Some traditional media organs and online publications back home, described the mega rally as a veritable show of force by MRC and its leader or presidential aspirant, Maurice Kamto, ahead of the 2025 presidential election in Cameroon, expected to hold in the month of October.

But  militants of the ruling CPDM at home, instead tried to ridicule the mega rally in Paris, saying that it will have no impact on the 2025 presidential election, and thus dismissing it as a waste of time.  The Deputy Secretary General of the CPDM, Gregoire Owona, who is also Minister of Labour and Social Security, on his Facebook page, questioned how many Cameroonians in the crowd that at the Paris rally, have registered to vote at the 2025 presidential election. He pessimistically did not think that more than 2 % of the Cameroon Diaspora that attended the rally to show their support the MRC leader, have voters’ card or have registered on the voters’ list anywhere.

Many CPDM militants even claimed that that most of the Cameroonians in France and other European countries that attended the rally in Paris, were people commonly known as “Sans Papiers’, that is, persons who are in an irregular situation in Europe, or better still, persons without valid documents to live in those countries. To the CPDM, referring to the May 31 rally as a show of force by Maurice Kamto, was thus inappropriate, because a presidential aspirant shows force by rallying people with voters’ cards behind him, and not in rallying people who will not vote at the election.

 Very Low Voters Registration By The Diaspora

There is no doubt that the outing by the Deputy Secretary General of the ruling CPDM, Minister Gregoire Owona, questioning how many Cameroonians in the Diaspora that attended the rally in Paris, France on May 31, 2025 have voters’ card,  was based on the official statistics  of voters’ registration by the elections organizing body in Cameroon, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM).  The statistics shows that the number of Cameroonians living outside the country that have registered is still very low, though better than the situation at the last presidential election, which was in 2018.  At the end of April 2025, ELECAM’s statistics show that out of the estimated 7 million Cameroonians in the diaspora, only a total of 26, 400 (Twenty six thousand, four hundred), had registered.

The President of the Republic is expected to convene Cameroonians to the polls in the coming weeks, for the presidential election. Once he does that, registration of voters will automatically end.  From the look of things, the total number of registered voters in the Diaspora will likely not reach 30,000 by the time that the President will convene Cameroonians to the polls for the crucial election.

 The Case Of 2018 Presidential Election Was Worse

It should be noted that though voters’ registration by the Cameroon Diaspora remains very low, the situation ahead of the 2025 presidential election is better, as compared to the situation at the last presidential election which was in 2018. This is certainly due to the intensification of voters’ registration campaign that has been going on at home and abroad, for more than a year now. At the May 31 rally in Paris, he National President of MRC, Prof Maurice Kamto, repeated his call on all Cameroonians of voting age that have not yet registered, to hurriedly do so before time runs out.

It would be recalled that voting in  the Africa Zone at the 2018 presidential election in Cameroon, took place in total of 17 African countries, which included South Africa, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, RDC , Tunisia, Liberia among others. The total number of registered voters in the 17 African countries was barely 7,161. Worse still, many of those who registered did not even vote. Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria were the first three of the 17 African countries, as regard the number of registered voters, while participation in all the countries was low. In neighbouring Gabon, 5,364 Cameroonians registered, while only 2,511 voted. In Equatorial Guinea, there were 2062 registered voters, while only 1159 voted. In Nigeria, there were 1761 registered voters, and only 919 voted. Two of the 17 African countries with the lowest number of voters’ registration, were Ethiopia with 62 registered voters and Liberia with 57 registered voters.

Europe, America And Asia Zones

In Europe Zone, the situation was not any better.  In fact it was even worse.  Cameroonians voted in a total of 10 European countries which included Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, the Vatican, Belgium, among others.  There were a total of barely 4, 129 registered voters in these 10 European countries, while only 1,564 voted. France had the highest number of registered voters which was 901, and only 486 voted. Second was Germany with 877 registered voters, while barely 119 voted. Third was Spain with 510 registered voters, while only 118 voted. It should be noted that Great Britain had barely 274 registered voters, and 145 voted.

In the America Zone, elections took place in just three countries, which were Brazil, Canada and the United States, with a total of barely 178 registered voters. 80 registered in the United States, and 66 voted.

The last foreign Zone was the Asia Zone, and the 2018 presidential elections took place in four countries which included Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, and Israel. The total number of registered voters was 899, with as many as 716 of them being in Saudi Arabia. Japan had barely 5 registered voters.

It should be noted that the incumbent, Paul Biya, according to the official result and statistics, won the 2018 presidential elections in all the foreign countries where the election took place, including France, Nigeria and the United States.

The Mockery Continues, But  – – –

Meanwhile since the mega rally that was organized in Paris on May 31 by some members of the diaspora in France in support of the MRC leader and presidential aspirant, Prof Maurice Kamto, CPDM Communication Officers or representatives invited to take part in political debate programmes over private Tv channels in Cameroon, have continuously been making a mockery of the low voters’ registration by the Cameroon diaspora.  They say instead of targeting where the votes are at home, MRC and its leader wrongly opted to play to the gallery by holding a rally in Paris with ‘Sans Papiers’ or persons who have no voter’s cards, and thus will not vote in the 2025 presidential election in Cameroon.

MRC officials and militants have been hitting back, proudly claiming that neither President Paul Biya nor any other political leader in Cameroon, or even in Africa, can travel to Paris and pull the large number of ‘diasporas’ as Maurice Kamto did at the mega rally on May 31 in Paris. They say Cameroonians in the diaspora came from across Europe and even from far away United States and Canada, and that the heavy turnout demonstrated the strong confidence and hope that Cameroonians of the Diaspora have in Prof Maurice Kamto, as the only person that Cameroon that has been ruined by the CPDM regime, needs, to turn things around, for the good of the Cameroonian people and country.

But then the CPDM guys do also provocatively question the MRC guys, how Kamto will find his way to the Presidency if not banking on the insurrection he allegedly called at the Paris rally,, considering that MRC followers or supporters are mostly persons that have allegedly not registered, and thus will allegedly not  vote at the 2025 presidential election. MRC officials have been strongly denying that Kamto called for insurrection by Cameroonian youths during the mega rally in Paris, France, as CPDM claims.