The choice of the League of Nations and subsequently the United Nations Organization to entrust the administration of the Cameroonian Territory to the French and the British was the legitimate consequence of an additional war won by the allies and which meant that they had to take possession of and maintain their positions or sovereignty over a space formerly under the protectorate of a common enemy.
The British administration adopted the policy of indirect rule on the basis of which, Southern Cameroon chose to join the former overseas territory under the supervision of France and which became the Republic of Cameroon in 1960 after strong oppositions in particular between French administrators and Cameroonian nationalists which continued after the independence of the young republic of Cameroon, notably through the repression of the guerrillas of the union of the populations of Cameroon with the help of French forces between 1960 and 1971.
The regime of the late President Ahidjo and his allies was hostile to any form of contradiction. Indeed, the influence of the single thought embodied by the first president and his successor after him during the first nine years which punctuated his accession to the supreme office, began to be more evident in 1966 with the merger of the Union Cameroonian with the majority of opposition parties to form the Cameroon National Union with the exception of the Cameroonian Democrats (PDC) party of André Marie Mbida and the Union of Cameroon Populations (UPC) of Osendé Afana and Ernest Ouandié.
This merger or rather this absorption facilitated the triple re-election of a late president, the only candidate for his own succession from 1965 to April 1980 after the victories of March 28, 1970 and April 5, 1975. A president for whom the opposition was not of no use for Cameroon and even less a federal system which was repealed by the referendum of May 20, 1972 which allowed the creation of the Republic of Cameroon.
The accession of President Biya to power on November 6 after the resignation of his predecessor on November 4, 1982, was the continuation of the same logic of domination which, however, experienced a decisive turning point after the multiple attempts at State coups which certainly motivated the change of name of the Cameroonian National Union on March 24, 1985 by the Cameroonian People Democratic mouvement of the to breathe new life into the political landscape.
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This new dynamic driven by the president of the renewal party allowed the establishment of a new-look multiparty system in 1990, thirty years (30), and thirty-four years (34) respectively after the legislative elections of 1960 and 1964. This allowed firstly the organization not only of the first multiparty presidential election of October 11, 1992 after the reign of President Ahidjo, but above all the first and most toughest presidential election in the history of Cameroon with unprecedented and unparalleled percentages until the hour. And secondly, it also allowed the organization of the toughest legislative election where, for the first time, the supremacy of the ruling party in the national assembly depended on a merger with one of the multiple opposition parties. Indeed, the CPDM won 88 seats without an absolute majority which it obtained thanks to an alliance with the Movement for the Defense of the Republic of the late Dakolé Daïssala. This first merger of the new party in power allowed it to have 94 votes in the national assembly against 86 for the opposition parties, namely: the National Union for Democracy and Progress of Bello Bouba Maïgari and the Union of Populations of Cameroon of Augustin Frédéric Kodock; a difference of 7 seats (4.5%).
It is important to note, however, that on April 10, 1960, legislative elections were organized in Cameroon and won by the Cameroonian Union of Ahmadou Ahidjo. A political party born in Garoua in 1948, which won 51 seats out of 100. The other 49 seats were shared between a parliamentary group of Bamileke origin and having within it deputies from other political parties who together formed the Popular Front for Unity and Peace (19 seats), the Cameroonian Democrats Party of André Marie Mbida 12 seats, the Union of Populations of Cameroon (UPC) 8 seats, the group of progressives 7 seats, and the independents of Alexandre Ndumb'a, Marcel Bebey Eyidi, and Hans Dissake 3 seats.
It was these parliamentarians who were responsible for electing the next president of the republic. The vote of May 5, 1960 was won by the candidate of the Cameroonian Union with 89 votes out of 99. The former deputy prime minister of the government of autonomous Cameroon of May 16, 1957 became the first president of the Republic of Cameroon after the ejection skilfully orchestrated of the first and prime minister of autonomous Cameroon André-Marie Mbida.
It is the same for the federal legislative elections of April 24, 1964. They were largely won by the Cameroonian Union which obtained 40 of the fifty seats thanks to a UC-KNDP alliance which allowed the National Democratic Party of Kamerun to obtain the 10 remaining seats.
The man of renewal was aware of belonging to a system where power did not really belong to the people and this is why at the beginning of his mandate he made it known that he wanted us to remember him as the one who brought democracy to his country. Even if the effectiveness of democracy in Cameroon may be questionable, he still allowed the initiation of a process which we hope will have a better appearance in the years to come because freedom of the press is mixed, non-violent marches for change are repressed, Certain results of elections for the renewal of basic organs within the ruling party are doubtful, the initiatives of opposition parties with a view to contributing to the improvement or even the change of the electoral code are frowned upon. If there have been notable changes from 1960 to the present, they represent nothing compared to the efforts that remain to be made.
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