The term of office of Members of Parliament for the eighth legislative period has been extended for the third time during the May 2013 extraordinary session of the National Assembly that started on May 2 and ended on Saturday, May 4, 2013. The term of office that had to end of May 22, 2013 has been extended by two more months with effect from May 23, 2013 to end on July 23, 2013.
The Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril chaired the closing plenary sitting of the extraordinary session during which the Vice Prime Minister, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Assemblies, Amadou Ali defended the bill to extend the term of office of MPs. The Vice Prime Minister explained that, "The ongoing process of putting in place the Senate requires that all practical arrangements be made for the harmonious functioning of the two Houses of Parliament." The extension is to enable the National Assembly and the Senate to meet at the same time following constitutional provisions during the June 2013 ordinary session. Without the extension, there will be no National Assembly hence, an institutional vacuum. The Senate, he said, will meet as of right on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. The second reason he advanced, was to enable the operation of the registration of voters using biometric technology to go on smoothly.
Despite the explanations of government contained in the report of the Committee on Constitutional Laws that examined and adopted the bill in committee, the people's representatives still asked a series of questions. Curiously, five Social Democratic Front MPs and Hon. Jean Jacques Ekindi of the Progressive Movement were the only MPs who asked questions. They accused Elections Cameroon, ELECAM of illegally stopping voters registration when electors had not yet been called to the polls, corruption during the April 14 election of Senators, the period legislative and municipal elections will take place, the uneven distribution of parliamentary seats, cost of organising the May 2013 extraordinary session of the National Assembly and why voters cards were not being distributed.
