For several years, the digital platform intended to host the electoral roll has been offline, casting a shadow over the transparency of the country's electoral process. This issue has reportedly persisted for nearly eight years. When SBBC reached out to an official from Elecam, they were simply told that the portal would soon be operational again, but no convincing explanations were provided. In the meantime, the unavailability of the electoral file has led to suspicions and Elecam being accused of hiding the electoral lists.

This lack of access to the online electoral file not only contradicts the stipulations of the 2012 electoral law but has also resulted in a lawsuit filed by Abdouraman Hamadou Babba against the Director-General of Elections at Elecam. This lawsuit underscores the non-compliance with Article 80 of the electoral law, which requires the national electoral list to be published by December 30th each year. The article states: "Upon the completion of the revision operations, and based on the documents and data communicated by the regional branches of Elections Cameroon, the Director-General of Elections shall establish and make public the national electoral list by December 30th."

Elecam defends itself by asserting that the electoral lists are available for review at municipal branches. However, this explanation falls short. The digital platform could easily make this information accessible without the need to print thousands of pages.

This debate is unfolding as a citizen-led campaign for registration on the electoral lists is gaining momentum, driven by aspirations for political change through the ballot box, akin to the presidential election in Senegal. Nevertheless, many citizens remain doubtful about the integrity of the current electoral process and are advocating for a reform of the electoral law to ensure election transparency.

L.A.