Calls for restraint after Cameroon poll

The AU on Wednesday called for “maximum restraint” in Cameroon after an opposition candidate’s declaration of victory following the weekend’s presidential vote.

Ahead of the official results, Maurice Kamto, a leading opposition challenger with the MRC the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon declared himself winner of the Sunday elections.

Kamto’s dramatic announcement came a day after the vote, which was marred by violence in restive anglophone regions, a low turnout and problems staging the ballot in the conflicthit areas.

With tensions running high over the vote, AU Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat called for both sides to avoid aggravating the situation.

“The chairperson underlines the need for all political stakeholders to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from any statement or action that could heighten tensions,” Faki said, indicating he was following developments. “Any claim relating to the electoral process should be handled through the existing legal mechanisms.”

Cameroonian government officials have dismissed Kamto’s remarks as a “nonevent”.

By law, each polling station must submit its results for verification to the Elecam electoral commission and then to the constitutional court which is responsible for announcing the final tally within 15 days of the vote in which incumbent 85year-old President Paul Biya sought re-election.

But a raft of unofficial results from Cameroon’s nearly 25,000 polling stations have begun circulating on social media.

The US embassy in Yaounde called “on all parties to wait until the official results are announced before making pronouncements about the supposed winner”.