Yaounde, Cameroon - Cameroon will organize its first senatorial polls on 14 April, 2013, according to a decree released Wednesday by President Paul Biya.
As stipulated by Cameroon’s Constitution, the 10,636 local councilors from 360 councils will on 14 April elect 70 Senators. Thirty other Senators will be appointed by the president.
The senatorial election will be held 18 years after it was announced following amendments to the Constitution in 1996 to create a second house in Cameroon’s parliament.
Saying that they were not consulted before fixing the date, opposition parties said the senatorial polls should not be held before the legislative and municipal elections because the the terms of the parliamentarians had been extended to 30 July, 2013.
Cameroon’s ex-minister of Justice and current chairman of the opposition Movement for the Reconstruction of Cameroon (RMC), Maurice Kamto, said holding the polls otherwise would give the ruling party undue advantage over opposition parties
Pana 28/02/2013