Over a dozen people were arrested after protesters hit the streets and courtyards across Douala, Bafoussam, Garoua and other parts of the country challenging ELECAM to respect the people’ choice and distance themselves from all forms of foul play that may tamper with the results that were registered during last Sunday’s 2025 presidential election. Sources say the protests were provoked by diverse alarms on possible result manipulation.
Dozens of persons have been arrested following protests in several parts of the country in the last 48 hours against alleged electoral fraud on last Sunday’s 2025 presidential election. A great section of the individuals was picked up in Douala in the Littoral Region where protesters hit the streets in two separate locations challenging elections management body, ELECAM to respect the people’ choice and distance itself from all forms of foul play that may tamper with the results that were registered during the presidential poll.
Sources say the protests which were also staged in Kousseri and Garoua in the norther part of the country and Bafoussam and Dschang in the West Region, were provoked by the multiple alarms that were raised alleging that results were being manipulated to disfavor the candidate of the Cameroon National Salvation Front, FSNC party, Issa Tchiroma Bakary to the favor of the candidate of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM party.
Fierce Douala protests
According to sources, at least 12 persons were arrested in Douala after protests erupted at the Douala 5 Branch ELECAM office located in Bonamoussadi. Media sources reported that dozens of protesters gathered at the branch office to demonstrate over what they described as a well-coordinated attempted electoral fraud led by branch officials in charge of the compilation of results.
The sources said the protesters challenged the officials to maintain full transparency in the electoral process and facilitate the timely publication of the authentic results that were obtained from polling station under the branch during last Sunday’s election. Similar protests also reportedly happened in Makepe in Douala in the Littoral Region where demonstrators equally urged ELECAM to respect the choice of the people by validating the genuine result that was obtained across polling stations under the zone during Sunday’s poll.
The multiple protests was met with a strong reaction from defense and security forces. The forces used water tanks to disperse the crowd. A section of them resulted to using teargas to overpower the angry protesters who notably barricaded roads in the course of the demonstrations.
Protests in West region
Protests in the West Region took place in Bafoussam in the Mifi Division and Dschang in the Menoua Division. Across the two cities, demonstrators headed to the courts protesting what they termed the attempted falsification of results to disfavor Issa Tchiroma of the FSNC party to the advantage of the CPDM party.
Meanwhile in Bafoussam, one person was reportedly arrested where a group of protesters challenged EECAM and other officials on the ground at a court in the West regional chief town where the tallying of the result was expected to be completed, authenticated and forwarded.
Enter Kousseri
Up north in Kousseri, it was reported that dozens of FSNC supporters created a tense atmosphere in bids to block ELECAM officials from tampering with polling reports to disfavor the FSNC party and its candidate. It is reported that the crowd forced its way to the office of the president of the Kousseri court accusing an ELECAM official of transporting falsified polling reports that contradicted the result that was held by the polling agents who were representing candidate Issa Tchiroma of the FSNC party.
They said the protest over the alleged attempted manipulation of results intended to favor the CPDM party and incumbent Head of State, Paul Biya, led to the courthouse getting placed under a total blockade by defense and security forces.
Tchiroma insists won Sunday’s poll, urges Cameroonians to protect votes
Tchiroma in a video recording last Monday night, announced that he is the winner of the 2025 presidential election. In another outing yesterday amidst the alleged falsification of results, the FSNC leader reiterated the claim.
The FSNC leader said he and the party have over the last days been left shocked and disappointed by what have been presented as official results from polling stations for last Sunday’s election. “Since the polling stations closed, matching information, coming from our deployed teams, national and international observers, and many voters confirms what we already knew: the Cameroonian people have expressed themselves massively.
The minutes signed and published in hundreds of offices testify to a clear and irrefutable will,” Issa Tchiroma stated in the statement yesterday. “Now, in a few hours, a mechanism for falsifying results was set up. Authentic minutes, established and signed at the exit of the ballot boxes, are today contradictory with copies presented by ELECAM services at the divisional level.
How can I explain that Return Sheets handed over to party representatives and displayed at the polling station differ from those circulating later in the administrative offices?” the candidate questioned, further stating that “This situation is unacceptable and casts a deep disturbance to the legitimacy of the vote.”
You have a historical responsibility
Issa Tchiroma in yesterday’s outing further challenged Cameroonian authorities and institutions to distance themselves from engaging in any manipulations that could harm the result and the credibility of the entire process of the 2025 presidential election. He urged institutions like ELECAM and the Constitutional Council to be exemplary in their delivery, describing the two bodies as institutions that have a historic opportunity to deliver change by standing with the truth while handling the result of Sunday’s election. “You have a historical responsibility.
The people’s confidence is based on your impartiality. If there is doubt about the integrity of a centralized Return Sheet, it is your professional and civic duty to immediately instruct the verification and, if necessary, suspend any proclamations based on fraudulent documents,” the candidate stated. “To our judges and magistrates present in divisional commissions: your role is not to protect opaque procedures, but to ensure the safety of the sovereign voice of the people,” the candidate added, challenging judges to confront ELECAM representatives and other officials squarely if official Return Sheets from officers differ from the document transmitted by an authority. “You are obliged to demand the confrontation of the pieces, the hearing of the witnesses, and the implementation of any evidence rather than turning a blind eye to the convenient formula: “Only the central Return Sheet of ELECAM is legitimate,” the former member of government further urged.
Tchiroma alarms international community over forgery
Issa Tchiroma in his outing also sent an appeal to the international community and observation missions, urging them to “not stay silent in the face of the obvious signs of forgery.” “Your presence and impartial findings are indispensable today to prevent escalation and ensure that the will of the people is respected,” he added. “I call on all the living forces of the Nation, political parties, civil society, churches, unions, independent media to join this call to demand transparency and loyalty in the counting and proclamation of results. The future of Cameroon is at stake today: that the will of the people be respected, that law and justice prevail,” the candidate further stated.
CPDM argues lone candidate with trustworthy information
The multiple outings by the candidate of the FSNC leader and his supporters have been met with fierce reaction from CPDM bigwigs and barons. The outings have provoked reactions from the likes of the Secretary General of the CPDM, Jean Nkuete, the party’s Communications Secretary, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, and Deputy Secretary General of the CPDM Central Committee, Gregoire Owona and the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji.
Former Prime Minister Jean Nkuete urged Cameroonians to ignore candidates who have been hurrying to declare themselves winners of Sunday’s election. He described the candidates as irresponsible individuals who are intentionally out to cause confusion among Cameroonians. The CPDM baron also boasted that the CPDM party is the lone political party in Cameroon which has what it takes to provide reliable and trustworthy information on the conduct of Sunday’s election.
He said despite its robust capacity, the CPDM chose not to make declarations on the outcome of the October 12 election. The CPDM National Campaign Coordinator argued that the party settled on the decision in demonstration of its status as a political structure that fully respects institutions and works in compliance with laws. “As for the CPDM, it is the only political party able to have representatives in all polling stations in Cameroon and abroad.
This means that it is the only political party that can provide reliable and trustworthy information about how the election has been conducted everywhere,” Jean Nkuete said in a press release last Tuesday.
