FAKO NEWS CENTRE

LIST OF NEWLY-ELECTED SENATORS RELEASED

By Ferdinand Efome in Buea for Fako UK/Fako News Centre

The streets of Buea became too busy and small on Monday April 14, 2013, for the convoy of Mbella Moki Charles, one of the pioneer senators of Cameroon after the results were released by the Yaounde Supreme Court sitting in for the Constitutional Council. After the results of the first-ever senatorial elections organised in Cameroon on April 14, 2013 were announced, many supporters of Mbella Moki Charles joined him to make a victory tour of the town.

Mr. Mbella Moki who has been the mayor of the Buea Municipal Council since 2002 was among the 7 senators of the elected Cameroons People Democratic Movement (C.P.D.M.) list that contested for the elections in the South West Region.

According to section 214 subsection 1 of the Cameroon Electoral Code, each Region shall be represented in the Senate by 10 (ten) Senators, 7 (seven) of whom shall be elected by an indirect universal suffrage on the Regional basis and 3 (three) appointed by decree of the President of the Republic.

Section 217 subsection 1 of the same code states that each Region shall make up a constituency, while subsection 2 of section 217 also states that senatorial elections shall be by list system, with no changing of the serial order of candidate’s names or name splitting.

On these bases, various political parties that were interested in participating in the senatorial elections submitted a list of 7 substantive candidates and their alternates each to authorities of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM). In the South West Region, two political parties (C.P.D.M. and the S.D.F.) both submitted the list of their candidates. Chief Tabetando Ndiep Nso headed the CPDM while Joshua Osih headed the SDF list in the South West Region.

These elections had a limited electorate. Section 222 subsection 1 of the electoral code states that Senators shall be elected in each Region by an electoral college comprising regional and municipal elections. Since the regional councillors have not been put in place, only the municipal councillors were those who qualified to elect the senators.

On April 14, 2013, the municipal councillors converged on their various divisional headquarters to elect the first-ever senators in Cameroon. Since the CPDM list in the South West Region won with an absolute majority, all those whose names are on the list have therefore automatically been elected Senators.

This election has therefore seen a man whose name has been synonymous to the Buea Municipal Council, Mayor Mbella Moki Charles, spring to another level in his political career. Many who had laid waiting to oust him from the council as mayor in the upcoming municipal elections have been left speechless. Going by section 215 of the Cameroon electoral code, Mbella Moki’s term of office as a senator will commence on the 3^rd Tuesday following the proclamation of the results when the senators will meet for an ordinary session.

NATIONAL RESULTS

VOTER PARTICIPATION 

Number of registered voters:  9,839 
Number voted:  9,785 
Abstention:  104 
Null Vote:  255 


NATIONAL RESULTS OF CONTENDERS  

First:  CPDM 73.12% Number of Seats won: 56 
Second:  SDF 17.59% Number of Seats won: 14 
Third:  UNDP 6.12% Number of Seats won: 0 
Fourth:  CDU 2.46% Number of Seats won: 0 


SUMMARIZED RESULTS PER REGION  

Adamawa:  SDF – 53.94% UNDP – 46.06% 
Centre:  CPDM – 99% SDF – 1% 
East:  CPDM – 100% lone competitor 
Far North:  CPDM – 91.79% UNDP – 8.21% 
Littoral:  CPDM – 92.66% UNDP – 5.80% 
West:  SDF – 78.43% CDU – 21.17% 
North:  CPDM – 65.67% UNDP – 33.03% SDF – 0.32% m
North West:  CPDM – 52.02% SDF – 47.98% 
South:  CPDM – 99.29% SDF – 0.07% 
South West:  CPDM– 89% SDF – 19%