On Paper, The Total Of 369 Political Parties In Cameroon, Belong To Three Different Categories, And The Biggest Category Is The ‘Opposition’

 But In Reality, There Are Different Categories Of ‘Opposition Parties’ – Genuine Opposition Parties, CPDM Satellite Parties, Business Parties, And Adventurers’ Parties.  This Is What Makes Opposition Unity Impossible In Cameroon.   

Veteran Journalist And Senior Official At MINCOM, Jean Lambert NANG, Opined Over Vision 4 Tv Last Year, That He Sees Only About Four Or Five Genuine Opposition Parties in Cameroon

 Cameroon today with an estimated population of between 25 – 30 million, scandalously has a total of 369 political parties. There are three major categories of political parties in Cameroon. They are the Category of the Ruling Party, the Category of Allies off the Ruling Party, and the Category of Parties of the Opposition, or better still, Parties that claim to be of the Opposition.

In the Category of the Ruling Party, is the Cameroon People Democratic Movement, CPDM, which in reality is the former Cameroon National Union, CNU, which was created by Cameroon’s first President, Ahmadou Ahidjo, and which President Biya transformed into the CPDM at the CNU Congress in 1985 in Bamenda. Though the opposition in Cameroon has often accused President Biya of flagrant violation of the Law for being at the same time President of the Republic and National President of a political party (ruling CPDM) which is incompatible by Law, he continues to   occupy the two posts.

Meanwhile it should be noted that in politics, there is the Category of Ruling Party or Ruling Parties. We talk of ruling parties in a case where the Government is a coalition of a number of political parties. In Cameroon the CPDM is the lone ruling party. However following the rebirth of multiparty politics, the CPDM has since the multiparty legislative election on March 1, 1992 always have some ‘opposition parties’ as allies in Government.

The Category Of Official Allies Of The Ruling CPDM / Supporters Of Paul Biya   

There is the Category of Political Parties that are official Allies of the ruling CPDM, or that support President Biya. This category includes the 20 political parties that constitute the Presidential Majority, which has as National Coordinator, Bochong El Hadj LAWAN BAKO, the National President of United Democratic Party, UDP.  The Presidential Majority has since 1992 been supporting President Biya, especially his candidature at presidential elections. So the position of these 20 parties is officially known.

Still regarding the official allies of the CPDM or supporters of President Biya, there was until late last month (Saturday, June 28, 2025), the UNDP of Minister of State BELLO BOUBA MAIGARI, which officially signed an alliance with the ruling CPDM way back in 1997. There was also the FSNC of Minister ISSA TCHIROMA BAKARY, that was in alliance with the ruling CPDM for several years, until late last month also. The MDR of late Senator DAKOLE DAISSALA, who, was also a former Minister, as well as the ANDP of Minister HAMADOU MOUSTAPHA, are both still in alliance with the ruling CPDM. So also is the legalized UPC faction of Late AUGUSTIN FREDRICK KODOCK (a former minster), which signed an alliance with the CPDM way back in 1992.  So the position of these parties have all a long been known.

One curious thing is that almost all these political parties, that is, the MDR and ANDP that are still in alliance with the ruling CPDM, as well as the UNDP and FSNC that only  terminated  the alliance late last month,  are what many call  Northern Parties or parties of  the Grand North. The only exception or outsider is the legalized UPC faction of Late Augustin Frederick Kodock. It should be noted that Kodock’s UPC today has a senator appointed by President Biya. So also do  UNDP, FSNC, MDR and ANDP, all have senators that were appointed by President Biya , in line with the spirit of their alliances with the CPDM.

It should be noted that another ‘opposition party’ in Government is PADDEC of Barrister Jean de Dieu Momo, who after the 2018 presidential election was appointed Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Justice. But from the look of things, the General Secretariat of the ruling CPDM tend to consider Barrister Momo and his PADDEC as supporter of President Biya, than an ally of the CPDM.

No Collaboration Or Support In Other Elections   

One common thing about the type of collaboration that has existed over the years between the ruling CPDM and the political parties that are in alliance with the  CPDM, which include the 20 political parties of the Presidential Majority, is that as far as elections are concern, the collaboration has been only at the presidential election. All the parties support the candidature of the CPDM natural or statutory candidate, Paul Biya, at the presidential election.  But at other elections like the municipal and legislative elections, there is no collaboration. The CPDM and the allies go into the other elections like municipal and legislative elections as individual parties, and a times, these parties even have serious clashes in the field with the CPDM during the elections.

The Category Of Opposition Parties / Flooded By CPDM Satellite Parties

The biggest category of political parties in Cameroon on paper is the Category of Opposition Parties. On paper, over 300 of the 369 registered political parties are of the opposition. But there is a big contrast with the reality, as the majority of the political parties in the country passing for opposition parties, are in reality either satellite parties of the ruling CPDM, parties created by adventurers in politics, and parties created by persons who think they can use politics or their political parties for business in a bid to make it in life, or to be able to put food on the table for the family.

In fact this is the ugly situation in which the Cameroon opposition has found itself since the official rebirth of multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1991. Even the first political party that the CPDM  Government registered in 1991, following the December 1990 Liberty Laws, was DIC of Gustave Essaka., which in reality was a satellite party of  the CPDM. The CPDM Government which insisted that Ni John Fru Ndi’s SDF had to re-register or officially register, manipulated the situation to ensure that the first political party that was registered in 1991 following the December 1990 Laws, was not the SDF that was created and launched on May 26, 1990, but rather DIC, a CPDM satellite party which the Government claimed was an opposition party.  That trend over the years continued, with   the registration of more and more satellite parties of the ruling CPDM, which the Government has continued to claim are opposition parties.

Minister Atanga Nji Worsen Situation

The situation has worsen since 2018 when Paul Atanga Nji, who is the Mezam Divisional Coordinator of the ruling CPDM, was appointed Minister of Territorial Administration. In fact since Atanga Nji became Minister of Territorial Administration, no new genuine opposition party has been registered, though dozens of political parties have been registered.  It would be recalled that the current National President of PCRN, Hon Cabral Libii Ngue, and his team deposited a file at the Ministry of Territorial Administration in March 2019, for the registration of their new political party, ‘PARTI CITOYEN’ (CITIZEN PARTY), but till date, the party has not been registered.

40 More Political Parries Legalized At A Go

But the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, has since coming to office in 2018, legalized dozens of political parties, almost all of which are CPDM satellite parties, and parties that the promoters assured they will be friendly to the ruling party and Government. It has also been observed that persons dismissed from major opposition parties like the SDF, PCRN and MRC, or disgruntled persons that leave these parties, and who are out to create their own parties to fight their former parties, easily have their parties legalized.

In press release No. 000036 signed on November 9, 2023, the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, announced the authorization or legalization of as many as 40 more political parties in the Country. The minister said the objective was “to enrich the political landscape and promote freedom of expression, so dear to the Head of State, His Excellency Paul Biya, Great Advocate of democracy, in our country”. But worth recalling once more, that  “Parti Citoyen’ of Hon Cabral Libii Ngue and  his group, whose file was deposited at the Ministry of Territorial Administration in March 2019, has till date not been legalized by Minister Atanga Nji, because they showed at the 2018 presidential election that  they were real opposition, and that they were coming up strong.

So the political situation in Cameroon, is such that the large majority of political parties in the ranks of the Cameroon opposition, are in realty, satellite parties of the ruling CPDM, ‘business parties’, and parties created by adventurers in politics. This is the principal reason why it is difficult or even impossible to have a united opposition in Cameroon. This is why the repeated call s by the population or concerned Cameroonians, for a single opposition candidate at the 2025 presidential election, will like in the past remain a pipe dream. For one thing, the main mission of the CPDM satellite parties in the Cameroon opposition is to constantly work to cause distraction in the opposition, and  to keep the opposition divided and thus weak, for the interest of the CPDM Party and Government.

 Just About 10 Genuine Opposition Parties Or Even less

Veteran journalist, Jean Lambert NANG, who is currently a senior official in the Ministry of Communication, declared over Vision 4 Tv in Yaounde, that in his personal view, there are only some four or five genuine opposition parties in Cameroon. The Mentor News will prefer to say that there are in fact about 10, or less, genuine opposition parties in Cameroon. So how can the Cameroon opposition be united on anything, when over 90 % of the parties passing for opposition, are in reality not genuine opposition parties!  Rather, their mission is to destroy the Cameroon opposition.

‘Business Parties’ In The Opposition

As aforementioned, besides the few genuine opposition parties, and the majority of parties in the ‘opposition’ that are satellite parties of the ruling CPDM, another category of political parties in the ‘opposition’ is the ‘Business Parties’. The ‘business parties’ are created by persons who think they can use political parties to strike deals that will enable them put food on the table, or to make it in life.  The leaders of these parties are in reality neither of the real opposition, nor for the ruling party and government. They don’t have any political ideology, and are not really into politics, as they are out for business.  At the presidential election for example, the party leader and his ‘business party’ can declare support for either the candidate of the ruling party or for an opposition candidate. It depends with whom a deal is struck. They are in reality thus not interested in opposition unity, for what really interest them in politics, is their personal interests.

The Category Of Adventurers   

Then, there are also the adventurers in the ‘opposition’. These are persons who create political parties to become party leaders, just as an adventure. They are not into politics for any particular thing, and consider themselves to be in an adventurer.  They enjoy being addressed as “Monsieur le President’ for being the President of a political party, even if militants of the party cannot fill a classroom.

When such a party leader has an opportunity to run for the presidential election, he goes into the election as an adventurer. He knows that he will not have up to a 1% score in the presidential election, but he still goes in for the election, and would not accept to withdraw his candidature to support a serious opposition candidate.