AP News, July 22nd, 2007
Parliamentary and municipal elections are being held Sunday across Cameroon, with longtime President Paul Biya's ruling party widely expected to dominate as it has for decades.
Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement holds 149 seats in the 180-seat legislature. Two opposition parties hold 27 seats and the rest are held by parties allied with the ruling party.
The last legislative and municipal ballot was held in 2002. As in 1997, opposition leaders alleged widespread fraud.
Also up for grabs Sunday are 336 mayoral seats, the overwhelming majority of them held by Biya's allies.
Biya, 74, has held power in Cameroon since 1982, when his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo retired. Multiparty politics emerged in the early 1990s, but Biya's hold on power was loosened only slightly and the opposition remains weak and divided.
Late Saturday, authorities closed the nation's borders, a routine move carried out to avert fraud.
About 5 million of the nation's 17 million people are registered to vote.
With the ruling party's firm hold on power, few expect real change and turnout was not expected to be high.
"What do I care about legislative elections or electing a mayor in Cameroon? What have those who were elected during the past 15 years done to change life for us?" asked Ebenezer Penda, a 36-year-old taxi-bike rider in Cameroon's economic capital, Douala.
Cameroon is home to a French-speaking majority _ from which Biya hails _ and an English-speaking minority that comprises about 20 percent of the nation's 15 million inhabitants. English speakers say they are treated as second-class citizens and have lobbied for years for autonomy or secession.
