The Democratic Rally of the Cameroonian People (RDPC), the ruling party of President Paul Biya, very largely won the legislative elections on February 9, with 139 seats out of 180, according to partial results made public on Friday, February 28, by the Constitutional Council.

The turnout was "moderate" at 45.98%, said Chairman of the Board, Clément Atangana. He presented results for 167 of the 180 seats in the Assembly, since the ballots for 13 deputies in eleven constituencies in the English-speaking regions of the North West and South West were canceled and will have to be organized again.

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While waiting for these by-elections in these regions ravaged by a bloody separatist conflict, the CPDM is already ahead of all its competitors together, winning 139 seats, against 148 in 2013. It is followed by one of its allies, the National Union for Democracy and progress (UNDP), which wins 7 seats.

Main opposition party represented in the outgoing Assembly so far, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) wins only 5 seats, against 18 in 2013.

Election of 16 opposition deputies

Despite this sharp decline, the SDF could improve its score during the partial matches in its traditional strongholds in the North West and South West. The SDF shares third place with the Cameroonian Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN) of Cabral Libii, 39, who entered the Assembly with 5 deputies.

In all, only 16 opposition deputies were elected, which leaves an extremely comfortable room for maneuver for the presidential majority.

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The Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC) of Maurice Kamto, who came second in the presidential election of 2018, had called to boycott the poll, deeming the organization of these elections impossible, in particular because of the deadly conflict which shakes the two populated regions by the Cameroonian anglophone minority.

With AFP

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