ELECAM sends delegation to South Africa on an election observer mission

Dr Samuel Fonkam, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Cameroon(ELECAM) said he was pleased with what he saw when visiting polling stations in Pretoria and Soweto on Wednesday.

Fonkam is visiting South Africa on a commission to commission observer mission.

“We are here to see what we can learn and to make recommendations to our colleagues,” he said.

Fonkam said he was impressed with voter turnout, the number of party agents, and the discipline and organisation.

But he noted that there were a lot of people at some polling stations. He said that at the first polling station they stopped at, there were 2,000 voters expected to make their mark, and that’s “too many people.” “In Cameroon the maximum number of people allowed to vote at one polling station is 500. That is the law,” he said. 

He pointed out that on voting day in Cameroon, there are sufficient polling stations to allow people to vote at a station that is within walking distance.

Fonkam was part of a Commonwealth observer mission to South Africa in 2009 and he said that since then the situation had improved with a lot more polling stations than before.

But he would still be recommending more polling stations to South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Fonkam said that even though its expensive, “it’s a fairer system to create more polling stations as voting goes quicker and you can get results in faster.”

eNCA