Officials and supporters of Cameroon's leading opposition political party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) are bracing up to celebrate its 22nd anniversary on May 26, 2012. A release by the SDF National Secretary for Communication, Beatrice Annembom Monju states that a series of activities are being organized nationwide to mark the event.
In the nation's capital, Yaounde, party officials will be trained at a one-day seminar at the SDF Secretariat in Olezoa beginning midday. SDF Communication members from the Far North, North, Adamawa, East and Centre Regions will be trained in Garoua on the theme, "The role of communication in politics."
At 22, the Social Democratic Front that was founded on May 26, 1990 in Bamenda, North West Region with Ni John Fru Ndi as pioneer National Chairman, has come a long way and struggled during each election to maintain its position as the leading opposition party. In the current eighth legislative period of the National Assembly, the SDF is the only opposition party with a parliamentary group having won 16 seats in the July 22, 2007 twin legislative and council elections.
The party rose to glory in Cameroon's elections history in the October 1992 presidential election when its candidate, John Fru Ndi, won over 36 per cent of the votes cast, coming closely behind incumbent President Paul Biya of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) who scored over 39 per cent. The election came on the heels of the March 1, 1992 first multi-party legislative election following the re-introduction of multi-party democracy. SDF joined other opposition parties in boycotting the legislative election.
The party later took part in the 1996 council elections and won 63 councils, took 43 seats in the National Assembly in the 1997 legislative election but boycotted the presidential election of the same year. The SDF's election fortunes have kept dwindling as it won only 22 seats in Parliament in 2002 while the party's candidate scored 17.4 per cent in the 2004 presidential election. The score later dropped to just over 10 per cent in the 2011 presidential election.
The SDF's continuous worsening performance in national elections is partly due to key members leaving the party and either joining the ruling CPDM or creating their own parties. Still fresh in mind is the departure of Barrister Bernard Muna, Professor Asonganyi, Hon. Kwemo, Kum Henry and its pioneer Secretary General, the late Dr Siga Asanga.
The SDF, whose Chairman, Fru Ndi, has toured Cameroon 18 times in 22 years, insists on its vision of democracy and disapproves of national events that do not tie in with this vision. This explains the repeated boycott of national events, including the 2012 National Day celebrations. The party joined other members of the G-7 in protesting against the recent promulgation of the Electoral Code by the Head of State. Its Members of Parliament walked out of the Hemicycle during the passage of the Code in April 2012, just as they did in the extraordinary session of April 2008 during the voting of the bill on limitless presidential mandate.
