Effective Electoral Recompilation Begins in September

The Electoral Board Chairman of Cameroon's elections governing institution, Elections Cameroon (ELCAM), Dr Fonkam Azu'u Samuel has confirmed that the effective biometric recompilation of the electoral register will begin in September 2012. He has also announced that the German company, Giesecke und Devrient G§D that won the FCFA 7.8 billion contract to do the biometric recompilation of the electoral register in the country will hand to ELECAM the first consignment of the electoral kits this weekend.

Dr Fonkam Azu'u spoke to journalists at the Yaounde Mont Fébé Hotel yesterday, August 8, shortly before the kick off of the third ordinary session of the Electoral Board of ELECAM for 2012. He said the main objective of the session was to evaluate the work done by the Directorate General of Elections at ELECAM on the recompilation of the voters register.

Talking specifically on when the recompilation exercise will effectively start, Dr Fonkam Azu'u reiterated the earlier press declaration of the Director General of Elections, Mohaman Sani Tanimou that it will be September 2012. "Immediately the electoral kits are here, we will proceed with the training of trainers, after which, we will proceed to register voters," he added. The Director General of Elections, the Electoral Board Chairman declared, "will sign the decision that gives the practical modalities on how the recompilation exercise is going to be carried out."

Once the training of personnel and exchange with electoral stakeholders are over, ELECAM's main task will be to ensure the means of transportation. The Electoral Board Chairman said the institution was preparing for a hitch-free exercise. Field staff have also been trained on information and communication technology and most of the information contained in the electoral kits take into account proposals from the grassroots, he concluded.