Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
If President Biya Is A Legalist As Many CPDM Elites Claim, Then He Will Have To Convene Cameroonians To The Polls For The Legislative And Municipal Elections, Latest Monday, November 9, 2026. Or Will He Again Postpone The Twin Elections, Which He Have Already Been Postponed Twice? To Postpone The Elections Again, Would Mean Convening An Extraordinary Session Of The National Assembly This Week. That Looks Very Unlikely.
All serious political parties in the country have been intensifying preparations ahead of the long awaited legislative and municipal elections (twin elections). Anxiety has now reached fever pitch in those parties, as the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, is supposed to convene Cameroonians to the polls for the elections latest Monday, November 9, 2026. That is, within one week. If that were to happen, then the elections proper will likely take place in early February 2027.
A couple of weeks ago, the leadership of the PCRN Party of Hon Cabral Libii Ngue, in an in- house circular, calculated that the legislative and municipal elections will likely hold on February 6, 2027. That however remains to be seen. Worthy of note that the PCRN in – house circular, was prepared by the hierarchy of the party, for the information of the party’s militants.
It should as well be noted, as was indicated in the PCRN document, that the possibility of President Biya again postponing the legislative and municipal elections for the third time, could not be ruled out, though it is very unlikely. To postpone the elections, precisely the legislative elections again, the National Assembly will have to be convened in an Extraordinary Session. This is as concerns the legislative elections.
Legislative And Municipal Elections have Never Been Postponed Thrice
Worthy of note, that President Biya has never postponed the legislative and municipal elections, thrice. But he has done so twice. In 2018, President Biya postponed the legislative and municipal elections first to 2019, and in 2019 he postponed it to 2020, precisely on February 9, 2020. That is, the last legislative and municipal elections that held in the country. The next municipal and legislative elections were supposed to hold in February 2025, but in 2024, the President postponed the elections to February 2026. Then in 2025, the President again postponed the elections to February 2027.
However with the way things are happening in Cameroon today, one cannot rule out the possibility of a third postponement of the municipal and legislative elections. Before 2026, no one could have imagined that President Biya could go for one year after a presidential election, without appointing a new government. For one thing, it is indisputable that at 94 years old, and having been in power for over four decades, age has so much weighed down on the President, with speculations rift that he is no longer so much in control.
The Time Factor
However, what makes the possibility of another postponement of the municipal and legislative elections look so unlikely is the time factor. It is just a few days to get to the deadline of November 9, 2026, which by law, President Biya has to convene Cameroonians to the polls for the municipal and legislative elections. The thinking is that if the Biya regime wanted to again postponed the municipal and legislative elections, that is for an unprecedented third time, an Extraordinary Session of the National Assembly would have by now already been convened. Whatever the case, let’s wait and see.
Law Does Not Obliges The Holding Of Twin Elections
Meanwhile, it should be noted that the law thus not obliges the Government to organize the legislative and municipal elections together, or as twin elections. The Biya government’s explanation for preferring to hold the two elections together is that it cuts down cost. In fact since the rebirth of multiparty politics in 1990 – 91, it is only once that the legislative and municipal elections have held separately. That was when the municipal elections held in 1996, and the legislative elections held in 1997.
The Biya government’s explanation for preferring to hold the municipal and legislative elections together is that it cuts down cost. In fact since the rebirth of multiparty politics in 1990 – 91, it is only once that the legislative and municipal elections were held separately. That was when the municipal election held in 1996, and the legislative elections took place in 1997.
