Why It Is Always So Difficult, If Not Impossible, To Have A Single Opposition Candidate At A Presidential Elections In Cameroon

The issue of CREDIBILTY, EGO and JEALOUSY remains a big problem in the opposition. The question of WHO IS AN OPPOSITION remains unanswered, in an opposition flooded with CPDM satellite parties

 There is also the unresolved issue on whether a candidate should be selected based on CV, or, on his capacity to pulls votes – The case of  Ni JOHN FRU NDI and  ADAMOU NDAM NJOYA in 2004

Veteran politician, EKANE ANICET, who was a frontline member of Union for Change in 1992, says they had to be realistic and designate FRU NDI as presidential candidate, because it was clear that there was no member of the coalition that could pull votes than the SDF leader

  Since the rebirth of multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1990, the opposition has never succeeded to have a single, or what is commonly known in Cameroon as a unique candidate, at a presidential election, despite the repeated calls and pressure by the population, whenever a presidential election is around the corner. Even to create a big coalition of opposition parties has also always been a big problem for the opposition in Cameroon.

In fact it has only been once, the 1992 presidential election, which was the first presidential election after the rebirth of multiparty politics that a number of serious opposition parties, civil society organizations, and civil society activists, succeeded to build a strong coalition for the presidential election. It was baptized, Union for Change, and Ni John Fru Ndi of the SDF was the candidate of the coalition, with Dr Hameni Bieleu of UFDC as Campaign Manager. But some other opposition leaders then like Bello Bouba Maigari of UNDP, Dr Adamou Ndam Njoya of CDU and Jean Jacques Ekindi of MP,  were also candidates in that presidential election,  as they refused to support Fru Ndi’s candidature.

As regard the 2025 presidential election, the first serious attempt to build a big opposition coalition was launched in Yaounde on Saturday, July 5, 2025. The political project is an initiative of the National President of the CDU, Mayor Patricia Tomaino Ndam Njoya. But at that first meeting to lay the foundation of the opposition coalition, major opposition parties in the country like the SDF, UNDP, MRC and PCRN, were conspicuously absent. It remains to be seen how far that coalition will be able to go.

 The Frustration Of Population   

Many Cameroonians always end up expressing disappointment with leaders of opposition parties, and especially the designated presidential candidates, whenever a presidential election is around, for failing to come together to designate a single opposition candidate for the election, or to least create a big and strong opposition coalition.  This is the more so, because there is the belief in the country that only a single opposition candidate or a  strong opposition coalition can beat the ruling CPDM in the presidential election, because of what the CPDM is. The CPDM is more of a party of the Cameroon administration that uses the State machinery. The ruling CPDM is also accused by the opposition of having access to State funds.

Many people believe that in the face of the powerful State machinery that the ruling CPDM mobilizes to its favour at elections, there can be no way out for the opposition at the presidential election, except the opposition is able to put up a strong united force, by designating a single presidential candidate at the election, or create a big and strong coalition, instead of going in for the election in disperse ranks as they have always done.

The Issue Of Ego And Jealousy

Many people always accuse opposition leaders of failing to come together to designate a single candidate for the presidential election, because of their egos, selfish interest and jealousy, which creates the situation where it is rare to find an opposition party’s candidate, that is willing to withdraw his candidacy to support another opposition candidate at the presidential election. It is often a matter of: “It is either me to be President, or no one else”.   This is a fact, but ego is only one of the reasons that make it difficult for the opposition to settle for a single candidate.

The Question Of Who Is An Opposition Leader

The fact is that in reality, it is not easy as many people think, for opposition parties or their leaders to come together on this issue of a single opposition candidate, for a number of other reasons. There is even first of all this important question: WHO IS AN OPPOSITON LEADER IN CAMEROON, or better still, WHICH ARE THE REAL OPPOSITION PARTIES IN CAMEROON. Cameroon with an estimated population of between 25 to 30 million scandalously has more than 370 registered parties. Over 350 of these parties pass around for opposition parties.

But the truth is that the bulk of the registered political parties in Cameroon are CPDM satellite parties, CPDM allies and friends, as well as ‘business parties’ and parties created by adventurers in politics. The long and short of it, is that some of these noisemakers who  frequently appear on Tv posing as opposition leaders and pretending to talk tough, are in reality agents of the  CPDM regime, with the mission to create distractions, destabilize and weaken  the opposition. It is an open secret that many of these persons lobby to appear on Tv programmes. Some even bribe their way to be invited to political debates or discussions on some Tv channels. Of course they have to justify their pay to those they are working for, and so they need to be seen on Tv programmes, they need to be read on newspaper pages including social media publications, they need to be heard on radio.

The nation’s economic capital, Douala, is seemingly the town that has the highest number of persons passing around as opposition leaders and trying to talk tough.  But the fact is that many of these ‘opposition leaders’ in Douala who are big noise makers, are agents or friends of the CPDM regime.

Credibility Of members That Work On Single Candidate Projects

One of the things that make some opposition party leaders and presidential candidates or aspirants, not to have trust in many of these so called opposition groups or platforms that spring up, and claim they are out to work on the political project to select a single opposition candidate for the presidential election, is the issue of the credibility of some members, especially some frontline members.

In Cameroon where politics has so much become something about money, and where a large number of parties passing around for opposition parties are in reality satellite parties of the CPDM and agents of the regime, some of these fake opposition leaders are always smart to either be among the founding members of these opposition platforms, or to get into the groups and quickly work their way to the frontline. They always adopt the strategy of talking tough against the CPDM regime in public, to gain public confidence. But then they are in these groups with the secret agenda designed by the CPDM regime, which is to tactically work either to impose the choice of the regime as the designated presidential candidate, or to destabilize the groups.

There are also cases where some members of these groups that work on the political project to designate a single opposition candidate, are agents of some presidential aspirants of the opposition. While in the groups, they try to tactically project their paymasters as the best choice for a single opposition candidate.

And so there is often lack of objectivity or realism in the work of most of these opposition platforms, because of the influence or manipulation of those members with secret agendas.

   What Criteria To Use – A Candidate’s CV, Or His Capacity To Pull Votes 

Another important issue that often poses as an obstacle to the designation of a single opposition candidate, or to the creation of a big and strong opposition coalition, at the presidential election in Cameron,  is the criteria set out by these opposition groups and civil society organizations, to select the single opposition candidate for the presidential election. This issue is often a major bone of contention between leaders of opposition parties. The question is often whether the opposition and civil society groups should designate a candidate with an attractive profile or CV, who will also attract international respect and admiration, or whether to designate a candidate based on his personal capacity and that of his party, to pull votes.

This is a very difficult issue to resolve, as the tendency is often for the leadership of the opposition party considered as the biggest in the country, to argue that it is just but normal that the opposition candidate should come from the party, especially considering the fact that at the end of the day, election is about votes. The candidate or party that pulls the highest number of votes is normally the one that wins the election. This is termed as being realistic.   But some opposition party leaders, and especially the civil society, argue that a presidential candidate’s profile or CV is very important. They argue that to bring the much needed change to Cameroon, it  does not only have to be about election, but also about having a  new President of the Republic, with the intellectual capacity and international contacts, that will  help to  drive Cameroon ahead.

The 2004 Example Between Ni John Fru Ndi And Adamou Ndam Njoya

In the run down to the 2004 presidential election, a group of several opposition parties and civil society organizations, held a number of meetings on the political project to designate a candidate for the opposition group.  There was no question that the SDF was the leading or the biggest opposition party then. But the opposition platform ended up designating the National President of CDU, Dr Adamou Ndam Njoya, as the opposition candidate for the 2004 presidential election, based more on his CV. They pointed out that Dr Ndam Njoya was Minister of Education in the Ahmadou Ahidjo government, he was an international figure, he had done this and that with UNESCO, he was bilingual, and so on and so forth.

The SDF leader, Ni John Fru Ndi, stormed out of the opposition platform.  The SDF decided to go it alone at the 2004 presidential election, with Fru Ndi as its presidential candidate, while the opposition group accompanied the National President of CDU, Ndam Njoya, as their candidate for the presidential election. President Paul Biya won the election. The candidate of the SDF, Ni John Fru Ndi, came second in the election, with a score of 17.40 %. He received 654,066 votes. The candidate of the opposition group comprised of a number of opposition parties and civil society organizations, including the CDU, Dr Adamou Ndam Njoya, came third, with a miserable score of 4.47 %. He received barely 168,318 votes.

1992 Presidential Election    

     Speaking during a programme, ‘Club d’Elites’, over Vision 4 TV in Yaounde on Sunday, July 6, 2025, the President of MANIDEM and veteran politician, Ekane Anicet, who in 1992 was a popular political activist and a frontline member of Union for Change, remarked that the one major thing that made them to designate the charismatic leader of the SDF, Ni John Fru Ndi, as the candidate of Union for Change in that year’s presidential election, was his popularity.  He said it was quite clear to everybody in the Union For Change, that the member of coalition, who had the capacity to pull the highest number of votes, was indisputably Fru Ndi, and they had to be realistic.

But Ekane recalled that some members of Union for Change like Adamou Ndam Njoya of CDU and Jean Jacques Ekindi of MP disagreed with their decision, and decided to leave the coalition and declare their candidacies. But Ekane pointed out that at the end of the day, the result of the presidential election, showed that Union for Change made the right choice, by designating Fru Ndi as the presidential candidate of the big coalition, comprised of political parties, civil society organizations and political activists.