The leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM party and 2025 presidential election hopeful has in a recent outing, questioned what he described as a lack of transparency surrounding a convention signed between the two bodies months to the much-awaited 2025 presidentials.
With just five months remaining until Cameroon’s highly anticipated presidential election, opposition leader Maurice Kamto has raised serious concerns about a secretive agreement between Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, and the United Nations. The deal, signed on May 9, 2025, has not been made public, prompting fears among opposition parties about its implications for electoral transparency. Kamto, leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM, issued a press release recently, accusing the country’s electoral commission of deliberately withholding information from the public.
He was joined by the Political Alliance for Change, PAC and the People for Change coalition in denouncing the lack of communication surrounding the agreement. “The people of Cameroon have the right to full transparency, especially when it concerns the rules and conditions under which their votes will be cast and counted,” Kamto stated. “This silence is not just troubling, it is unacceptable.” The CRM first revealed the existence of the ELECAM-UN agreement on May 14, just days after its signing. In response, ELECAM issued a press release on May 15, but failed to disclose any details about the agreement’s contents. According to Kamto, the press release raised more questions than answers.
While Cameroon’s electoral laws, outlined in the Constitution and the Electoral Code, are publicly accessible and well understood by political actors and voters, the addition of this new and undisclosed agreement has introduced significant uncertainty. Opposition parties fear that the convention may include provisions that could impact the credibility, fairness, or independence of the upcoming election. Kamto has now called on all presidential candidates and political stakeholders committed to electoral transparency to demand the immediate publication of the convention. “This is not a partisan issue; it is a matter of democratic integrity,” he said. “All those who care about free and fair elections must speak up.” So far, neither ELECAM nor the United Nations has offered further clarification on the nature or objectives of the agreement.
The lack of transparency has raised suspicions among opposition figures, who view the timing of the deal, just months before the election, as suspicious and politically motivated. The CRM, PAC, and the People for Change have pledged to remain vigilant and mobilized until the details of the agreement are revealed. They argue that withholding such critical information so close to the election undermines public confidence in the electoral process and could jeopardize peace and stability. “We will not allow the Cameroonian people to be robbed of their voice or their vote,” Kamto warned. “We are closely monitoring this situation and will take all legal and political steps necessary to defend the integrity of the election.” As political tension continues to rise, Cameroonians now look to ELECAM and the United Nations for transparency.
The coming weeks will be crucial as pressure builds for the full disclosure of the convention’s content and its potential impact on the democratic process.
