There Are Conflicting Signals From Cabral Libii And His PCRN, On The 2025 Presidential Election

Hon Cabral Libii has repeatedly said that he will be candidate at the 2025 presidential election

But at the same time Cabral Libii and his PCRN have not formally left the Alliance for a Peaceful Transition

  They seem to be playing a game, and it is very likely that PCRN will not remain in the alliance, if Cabral Libii is not designated presidential candidate

 The Alliance for a Peaceful Transition commonly known as ATP (‘Alliance pour une Transition Pacifique’), in Cameroon, is close to selecting its candidate for the 2025 presidential election. Many political observers should be asking the question as to whether “Parti Camerounais pour la Reconciliation Nationale’, PCRN , of Hon Cabral Libii Ngue, which is the only major opposition party in the alliance, will  remain in the coalition, if Cabral Libii is not the one designated to be the alliance’s candidate at the presidential election. This is in the case where PCRN is still actually in the alliance.

In the spirit of the political alliance in theory, Cabral Libii and his PCRN are supposed to accept any person elected through primary by the alliance, as the political platform’s candidate for the 2025 presidential election But in practical terms, the story is likely to be different, especially as Cabral Libii and his PCRN have been sending conflicting signals on the issue. On one hand they say they support the idea of an opposition alliance, with a programme for a unique candidate and a government of transition. But on the other hand, they say Cabral Libii will be candidate at the 2025 presidential election.

In fact Cabral Libii has repeatedly declared publicly that he will be candidate at the next presidential election. He did same in an interview with the French TV channel, TV S Monde, less than two weeks ago.  Cabral Libii minced no words that he will be candidate at the 2025 presidential election,  but at the same time claimed that he has always supported the idea of the opposition coming together to form a  bloc, for the  presidential election.

. It would be recalled that during his visit to Dakar, Senegal, in April 2024 for the swearing –in ceremony of the new and youthful President of Senegal, 40 years old Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Hon Cabral Libii who was one of the foreign invitees, told the Senegalese media that the election of Diomaye Faye as President of the Republic of Senegal, was an encouragement to people like him not to give up. He said it was a confirmation that it is time for a new generation of Africans to democratically takeover the leadership of African countries. Cabral Libii recalled that he was a candidate at the 2018 presidential election in Cameroon, and minced no words that he will again run in the next presidential election in Cameroon, expected to hold next year.

Cabral Libii Started Preparations Long Ago

 It would also be recalled that  a couple of weeks after the results of the February 9, 2020 Legislative and Municipal Elections results  were officially published, the National President of PCRN, Cabral Libii, declared to the media that all the party’s Mayors, councilors and  MPs had a very big challenge ahead of them. He explained that they, including himself as MP, would have to relentlessly work hard so as to live up to the expectation of the Cameroonian people, He disclosed that their achievements will be the materials that the party will use in the campaign for the next presidential election scheduled for 2025. So Cabral Libii has been constantly expressing his presidential ambition for a number of years now, and has since been preparing for that.

PCRN Joins Alliance For A Peaceful Transition

But then, PCRN was one of the first political parties to go onboard the political platform that was created in January 2024 by Prof Olivier Bile (National President of ‘Les Liberateurs), for the 2025 presidential election. The, opposition platform, that was initially known as the Alliance for a Political Transition in Cameroon, is today known as the Alliance for a Peaceful Transition in Cameroon.  It should be noted that the National President of PCRN, Cabral Libii, was among the first party leaders that was contacted by Prof Oliver Bile, to create the political platform. That was in January 2024. It was even through Cabral Libii’s social media outing, that many people learnt about the creation of the political alliance or coalition of some opposition parties and civil society organizations and personalities.

And as Prof Olivier Bile himself said it then, Cabral Libii had during their first meeting made it clear that the PCRN would come up with proposals for the modification in the draft manifesto of the alliance that he prepared. That was actually done.

So PCRN contributed much to lay the foundation of the Alliance for a Peaceful Transition.  PCRN was also the big force behind the decision that was taken by the alliance to discard what the initiator of the political platform, Olivier Bile, had termed as the Plan A of the alliance. The Plan A was that President Biya would be the President of the Transition.  Prof Bile said that he accepted the decision of the majority of members or the alliance, to drop the Plan A of the alliance and adopt Plan B for the alliance. All these, is to show how PCRN, with its force as the only major political party in the Alliance for a Peaceful Transition, has played a key role in shaping the alliance. There is of course no doubt that it is PCRN that has given much weight to the alliance, and Prof Olivier Bile definitely knows that so well.

  Cabral Libii And PCRN Will Likely Quit The Alliance, If – – – –

In a normal situation then, Cabral Libii and his PCRN should by now be preparing themselves psychologically, to accept whoever the Alliance for a Peaceful Transition will select or designate as presidential candidate. As earlier reported by The Mentor, the alliance has announced that a primary will be organized to select its candidate for the 2025 presidential election. An Organizing Committee has been set up, and the last date for interested members to submit their candidatures, is November 15, 2024. It has been said that the primary will be opened to the press, as a mark of transparency.

It is true that Cabral Libii has always talked in favour of a primary, and even balloting, as some of the ways by which an opposition alliance can use to select its candidate for the presidential election. But there are doubts whether as the leader of the only major political party in the Alliance for a Peaceful Transition, he will allow himself to participate in the open primary with leaders of small parties  like Celestin Djamen and his APAR, many of some exist only on paper.  It is not clear whether Cabral Libii has sent in his candidature or if he intends to do so.

There is no doubt that PCRN will very much like to see  the Alliance for a Peaceful Transition or an opposition alliance, back the candidature of Cabral Libii for the presidential election. It will be a boost moral as well as create a good public image for their candidate. But there are indications that the PCRN and its leader, Cabral Libii, will likely not accept to support another candidate of the Alliance for a Peaceful Transition, if it so happens that a majority of members of the alliance select another person as presidential candidate. The problem of big and small parties that often surface during presidential elections in Cameroon, will likely resurface.