Constitutional Council Awaits Petitions

The Registry of the Supreme Court, seating in for the Constitutional Council has set its entire arsenal to receive petitions from political parties that nominated candidates for the April 14, 2013 Senate elections but were rejected by the Electoral Board of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM).

ELECAM on Wednesday March 20, 2013 rejected 23 lists from the CPDM, SDF, UDC, ANDP, UPC, FSNC, MDR, and UNDP parties. The rejections were on counts of irregularities in the composition of files for candidates' lists. Some of the reasons as explained by ELECAM Board Chair, Samuel Fonkam Azu'u, included the lack of gender representation, applications not having legalized signatures and the inclusion of under aged candidates.

The political parties whose nomination papers were rejected have until today March 22 to petition the Supreme Court acting as the Constitutional Council to rule on the rejection. Section 129 of the Electoral Code specifies that "Objections or petitions relating to the rejection or acceptance of candidates, as well as those relating to the colour, initials or emblem adopted by a candidate may be brought before the Constitutional Council by any candidate or political party taking part in the election or any person serving as the government representative in the said election, within a maximum of 2 (two) days following the publication of the list of candidates."

Section 130 (1) further states that, "Objections and petitions shall be filed through ordinary petitions to the Constitutional Council. (2) Such petitions shall not stay execution. (3) The petitions shall be recorded by the Constitutional Council. (4) Under pain of rejection, petitions shall specify the alleged facts and means...."

Upon the publication of the aforementioned lists, the ball began rolling at the Supreme Court where petitions were expected to be submitted. By midday yesterday March 21 at the Registry of the Supreme Court, many staff were still glued to the newspaper to understand Wednesday night's ELECAM decisions. The Chief Registrar, Appolinaire Koe Amougou, explained that he was still keeping abreast of the approved and disqualified lists, but assured that they were going to work as in the past years to receive petitions. By 5 pm, information garnered still revealed that no political party had showed up to petition ELECAM decision. The Constitutional Council has a maximum of 15 days to rule following the lodging of petitions.