Post-election Disputes : Reception Of Petitions Ends Toda

No petition has been received so far at the Constitutional Council from any of the eight presidential candidates seeking to head the country, Cameroon Tribune learned by the time of going to press. The deadline for the submission of complaints relating to the conduct of the election exercise is midnight today, according to the Electoral Code which stipulates that such petitions should be made no more than 72 hours following the close of the poll.

Nevertheless, the Constitutional Council has at least received 14 separate petitions from a single person, Bertin Kisob, National President of the Cameroon Party for Social Justice (CPSJ). All the petitions can be grouped into two. In the first case, the National President of CPSJ is praying the Constitutional Council to cancel all results obtained in the country and abroad by Paul Biya, presidential candidate of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM).

He lays his claims on “systematic electoral fraud and anti-democratic prac tices,” amongst others. Kisob, who is under detention at the Yaounde central prison in Kondengui and presents self as an ally to Maurice Kamto, also wants the Constitutional Council to declare itself incompetent to supervise and proclaim the results of the October 7 presidential election.

The petitioner also raised other issues in his hand writt...