Cameroon polls 'will be a sham'
2007-07-17 14:49
Yaounde - Cameroon's opposition leader John Fru Ndi on Tuesday accused the west African country's veteran ruler Paul Biya of planning widespread fraud in this weekend's legislative elections.
A leader of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) said: "The organisation of the elections has not changed. It has even worsened.
"The elections will be unfair and won't be transparent. And Biya is the architect." Biya was appointed prime minister in 1975 and had been president since 1982.
Fru Ndi, who finished a poor second to Biya in the last presidential elections in 2004, said the government was planning widespread fraud.
He said: "The census results are not yet out and we don't even know how many Cameroonians there are. Some people have two, three or five voting cards. Minors have some, but some other people don't even have one."
Fru Ndi's party had 22 members in parliament against 149 for the ruling Democratic Rally of the Cameroonian People (RDPC).
He said his group was contesting the elections because "it wouldn't change anything if we boycott them. Biya would say he has won anyway. We participate to point out irregularities".
Candidates from at least 45 parties were contesting Sunday's polls. According to reports, the state had already released $3.2m to political parties.
The reports did not say how the money was allocated between Biya's RDPC and rival parties.