Cameroon politics: Maurice Kamto denounces agreement between United Nations and ELECTIONS CAMEROON (ELECAM)
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As Cameroon prepares for the 2025 presidential election, concerns over electoral integrity and human rights violations have come to the forefront. On May 9, 2025, the United Nations (UN) and Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) signed an agreement covering the electoral cycle from 2025 to 2027. This agreement has sparked outrage among opposition parties and civil society, who denounce the UN’s apparent silence in the face of electoral fraud and political repression.
Below is a statement from Prof. Maurice Kamto, one of the main political leaders in Cameroon. This statement was made and published on his official Facebook page on 28 May 2025.
The Agreement signed on 9 May 2025 between the United Nations (UN) and ELECTIONS CAMEROON (ELECAM) engages the responsibility of the UN to the People of Cameroon during the 2025-2027 electoral cycle.
National and international opinion should be aware that the UN has regularly been informed of the barbaric fraud which, after elections, deprives Cameroonians of the results of the ballot box, as well as the disastrous human rights situation in Cameroon. Political parties, including The Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM), Cameroonian civil society and several non-governmental organisations have regularly drawn the UN’s attention to these realities and expressed their deep concern about the holding of peaceful elections in our country.
With the surreptitious signing of this Convention between the UN and ELECAM, which we firmly denounce, we are taking note of the UN’S COMPLICIT AND CULPABLE SILENCE:
– The refusal of the Yaoundé regime to amend the Electoral Code despite the many initiatives of political parties and civil society organisations that have made concrete proposals in this regard;
– The systematic violation of the Electoral Code in force;
– The obstinate refusal of the Director General of ELECAM to publish the national electoral list as required by Article 80 of the Electoral Code;
– The denial of justice by all national jurisdictions, including the Constitutional Council, which have been asked to enforce the Electoral Code;
– The deletion from the electoral roll of many Cameroonians who are regularly registered on the electoral roll;
– The non-respect of the electoral calendar through the postponement of legislative and municipal elections from February 2025 to March 2026, on the basis of spurious reasons and in flagrant violation of Article 15 paragraph 4 of the Constitution, to prevent the CRM from having directly elected representatives, in the vain hope that it would not be able to present its Candidate of the CRM for the presidential election.
Furthermore, the UN is engaging in a curious and obscure electoral partnership, without the slightest reservation, with the CPDM regime, while in Cameroon, the human rights situation and the political scene are marked by :
– Unsolved murders, particularly of prelates and journalists;
– Administrative repression and indiscriminate judicial vengeance against leaders and activists of opposition political parties by the regime;
– The many forms of torture of opposition activists: torture with bladed weapons with irreversible after-effects, electrocution of the genitals,point-blank shooting of activists with their bare hands, etc.
– The death of political activists arbitrarily detained;
– The regime’s refusal to comply with the Opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued on 4 November 2022.
With this Declaration, the CRM, the PAC and the People of Change call on the UN to become fully aware of the negative role that the outgoing Cameroonian regime wants it to play during the next presidential election.
The CRM, the PAC and the People of Change call on the UN to make public the Convention signed with ELECAM or else to publicly disassociate itself from it, unless it has decided, against democratic values and the interests of the Cameroonian People, and above all against its cardinal mission of conflict prevention, to support the current Cameroonian dictatorship to the end and come what may.
Done in Yaoundé, 28 May 2025
Maurice KAMTO
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
