(Business in Cameroon) - On 25 February, the Constitutional Council annulled the parliamentary elections of 9 February in 11 constituencies in the North-West and South-West regions.

These are the constituencies of Menchum-North, Bui-West, Mezam-South, Bui-South, Bui-Centre, Mezam-Centre, Momo-East, Menchum-South, Momo-West, Mezam-North and Lebialem.

The Council's decision followed appeals lodged by the Social Democratic Front (SDF). According to the SDF, the elections were not conducted in some constituencies due to insecurity.

The SDF also accused Elections Cameroon (Elecam), the body in charge of organizing the elections, of "violating the electoral code by grouping several polling stations in polling centres." Because of these groupings, it was hard for some voters to identify their polling stations.

Elecam, to defend the grouping, argued that because of the security requirements imposed in these two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, new polling stations were instead created so that voters would vote in peace, far from reprisals by separatists.  

This argument was not sufficient to convince judges of the constitutional council. Elecam now has between 20 and 40 days to organize partial elections.

S.A.