Biya’s party wins every Senate seat in Cameroon

Unsurprisingly, the party of President Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon for more than 40 years, won every one of the 70 seats in the Senate that was indirectly elected on March 12, according to a statement made by the Constitutional Council on Thursday.

In the upcoming 10 days, the 90-year-old omnipotent head of state must also appoint 30 more senators.

Since the opposition held seven seats in the previous Senate, the Rassemblement démocratique du peuple camerounais (RDPC) has even strengthened its total control of the upper house of parliament.

The results were announced by Clement Atangana, the president of the Constitutional Council, during a ceremony that was live-broadcast on CRTV, the public television network. The CPDM lists, which triumphed in each of Cameroon’s ten administrative regions, won all the seats in each of these regions.

Ten parties had put forth candidates for regional councillors, municipal councillors, and traditional chiefs to 11,134 voters in the country’s ten regions, which had a population of about 28 million.

Only the CPDM presented lists in each of the ten regions. 360 communes in Cameroon are under its control.

In the National Assembly, 164 of the 180 deputies who were elected in February 2020 are members of Mr. Biya’s party and allies.

The president of the Senate, who is constitutionally tasked with acting in the interim in the event of a vacancy at the top of power, is the only position up for election during the senatorial elections after the 30 additional senators have been appointed by the head of state. However, he is prohibited from running in the presidential election that must be held within 120 days.

The position has been held for ten years by the current occupant, Marcel Niat Njifenji, 88, who is close to Mr. Biya.

Everyone is talking about Paul Biya’s “succession.” The CPDM will be required to choose a successor who will have a strong chance of winning the next presidential election in the event of the president’s death or incapacity. But no one, not even those closest to Mr. Biya, has the courage to speak out in public.

Since 1982, Paul Biya has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist. The UN and international NGOs frequently accuse him of ruthlessly suppressing the opposition in the streets and of fomenting a bloody separatist uprising in the two western regions, which are home to the majority of the English-speaking Cameroonian population.