WILL LEGISLATIVE AND MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS BE POSTPONED TO 2026?

WILL LEGISLATIVE AND MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS BE POSTPONED TO 2026?

– There Is the Problem Of Raising Funds To Organise Legislative / Municipal, Presidential And Regional Elections In One Year

There is an allegation that the Government intends to have the legislative and municipal elections that are supposed to jointly hold in February 2025, postponed to 2026 because of the difficulties that the Government is likely to face, to raise funds for the organisation of all the elections due to hold in 2025. It should be noted that the legislative, municipal, presidential and regional elections are all due to hold in 2025, with a joint organisation of the legislative and municipal elections like happened in 2002, 2007, 2013 and 2020.

Prof Kamto And His MRC Party

Prof Maurice Kamto and his MRC party consider any plan by Government to either call early presidential election or to postpone the legislative and municipal elections, as a malicious or vicious intention by the Biya Government to victimise the party. This is due to the fact that the MRC boycotted the last municipal and legislative elections that held on February 9, 2020.
As from the last presidential election in 2018, the law states that for a political party to qualify to give its investiture to a
candidate to run at the presidential election, the party is supposed to be present in at least one municipal council. This means that a political party must have at least one municipal councilor, to qualify to send in a candidate for the presidential election.
This thus means that if there is early presidential election this year, or if the municipal /legislative elections are postponed to 2026, MRC will be in a big trouble, for the party does not currently have even one municipal councilor, since it boycotted the last municipal elections. To be precise, if the next presidential election in Cameroon
comes before the municipal elections, MRC will not qualify to send in a candidate at the presidential election. In such a situation, MRC’s natural candidate, Prof Maurice Kamto, will have to run in the election on the ticket of another party that has at least one municipal councilor. This is a real nightmare for Kamto and his MRC.

The Postponement Of Municipal Elections Will Not Be Unprecedented

No matter how MRC takes it or sees it, the fact of the matter is that for Government to postpone the legislative and municipal elections due to hold in 2025 to 2026, because of financial constraints or whatever, will not be an unprecedent happening in Cameroon, since the rebirth of multi party politics in the country.
Following the return of multi party politics in Cameroon in 1990 as the SDF sees it, or in 1991 as the Government insists, the first municipal and legislative elections jointly held in 1992. Since councilors and MPs have a five year mandate, the next municipal and legislative elections were due to hold in 1997. But in 1996, President Biya called early municipal elections. This was probably because the presidential election was also due to hold in 1997, and the Government considered that to hold all the three elections in 1997, as happened in 1992, would be too heavy for the State. So the municipal elections held in 1996, while the legislative elections held in 1997.
The next municipal elections was thus supposed to hold in 2001, since the last one held in 1996. As for the legislative elections, the next one was to hold in 2002, since the last one held in 1997.
But in 2001, the Biya Government extended the mandate of the municipal councilors by postponing the municipal elections to 2002. This was in order to organise a joint municipal and legislative elections, so as to reduce cost. So in 2002, there was a joint municipal and legislative elections.
The next joint legislative and municipal elections was due to hold in 2007, and it held. After that, the next joint legislative and municipal elections was supposed to hold in 2012. But in 2012, the Biya Government postponed the elections to 2013.

Municipal / Legislative Elections Postponed Twice

After the joint legislative and municipal elections in 2013, the next joint legislative and municipal elections was supposed to hold in 2018. But it happened that the senatorial and presidential elections were also due to hold in 2018. This meant that the joint legislative and municipal elections, the senatorial elections and the presidential election, were all to hold in the same year, 2018.
The Biya Government openly complained that the State could not be bear the huge financial burden or weight of those elections in one year. So President Biya postponed the joint municipal and legislative elections to 2019. But in 2019, the joint municipal and legislative elections was again postponed to 2020, precisely to February 9, 2020.
So as can be seen, since the return of multi party politics, or better still, since the return of multi party elections in Cameroon, President Biya has postponed the legislative and municipal elections a number of times. In fact since the holding of the first joint municipal and legislative elections in 1992, it is only once that the joint municipal and legislative elections has not been postponed, and that was in 2007.
So the possibility of postponing the next joint municipal and legislative elections due to hold in 2025 to 2026, cannot be ruled out. In fact it is even most likely to happen.

Presidential Election Has Never Been Postponed

As regard the next presidential election, due to hold in 2025, that is what is very much unlikely to be postponed. Since the first multi party presidential election in 1992, President Biya has not for once called early presidential election or postponed the holding of a presidential election.
After the 1992 presidential election, the next presidential election in the country held in 1997. By then, the mandate of the President of the Republic was five years.
After the 1997 Presidential Election, the mandate of the President of the Republic was extended to seven years. So the next presidential election held in 2004 instead of 2002.
After the 2004 Presidential Election, the next presidential election in Cameroon was due to hold in 2011, and it held , despite all the rumours that the election was to be postponed. After 2011, the presidential election in Cameroon next held in 2018 as was expected. The next presidential election is scheduled for 2025, and it is very unlikely to be postponed.
As we have seen, President Biya has never postponed a presidential election, or call early presidential election, since the return of multi party politics in Cameroon