Steemit Engagement Challenge S8-W3 | Elections in my Country.

Salutation

Accept warm steem greetings from motherland-Cameroon. Welcome to my blog as I share my thoughts about elections in my country. Let’s get the ball rolling, and I hope you enjoy reading it.

Introduction.

In a layman’s explanation, elections are when the population chooses an individual or a set of individuals to SERVE the population through public offices. But from what I have witnessed in my country with regards to electors, the population rather serves and worships them to benefit from crumbs.

To further give my thoughts about this concept, I will follow the guiding questions below to buttress my thoughts.

What do you think about the electoral system in your country?

Electoral systems are put in place to ensure that elections are free of rigging, transparent and fair to all irrespective of your religion, political party, etc.

They are responsible to ensure the population is fully registered and voting is done fairly.

They are responsible to see that sensitisation is done enough within communities about the importance of citizens choosing the right leaders by voting.

Ensure voting materials are prepared on time and sent to all polling stations eve of voting.

These are just the few I know of about the responsibilities of electoral systems.

I am afraid to say the electoral system in my country is nothing but a political party in an electoral system. Though we are blindfolded that once appointed a member of the electoral system from a political party, you automatically resign from your political party and concentrate on the affairs of the body.

There is this saying that “ one can never bite the fingers that feed them”. Oooh yes, this practically ties in with the electoral system in my country. They are appointed by the head of state and all from the ruling party.

This keeps me wondering if competent electoral administrators can only be found within a single party. They know the game they are playing to continue to stay in power.

To me, the electoral system in my country is corrupt, full of lots of tribalism, nepotism and people with self-interest and not the interest of the people.

How is it done in your country?

With regards to how elections are done in my country, the youths who cover about 60 per cent of the population are frustrated with the bad electoral system.

There exist different forms of elections in Cameroon. We have the presidential elections, the municipal elections and the legislative elections.

I will start with the presidential elections where aspiring candidates submit applications to the electoral body for approval. Some candidates are disapproved because of some irregularities not meeting up with the criterion set by the electoral body. Then you are given a due date to file for litigation.

Then the approved candidates are made public and given time for campaigns.

After campaigns, comes Election Day at different polling stations across the national territory.

The same goes for the municipal elections and the legislative elections.

But the legislative elections differ from the presidential election as not all citizens participate in the voting. Legislative elections are done by municipal councillors. They vote 70 % of the legislative and 30% appointed by the head of state.

On voting day, voting starts at 8:00 AM and closes at 6:00 PM. Then counting of votes is done immediately and recorded manually and send to the electoral body.

The result is compiled and litigations are opened for any party not satisfied with the voting process. The constitutional council also appointed by the head of state, take charge of the litigations and then the proclamation of results.

Is it transparent and fair in your country?

To say elections are fair and transparent in my country, I will say NO. Why? I used to hear from others when I was a kid how political parties involve sharing material and monetary items with voters to deceive them chose the wrong leaders.

As I earlier said, people, do not go into politics to serve the population. They do not go in for the common man. Rather they go in for positions of self-interest.

Therefore, they go the extra mile to do whatsoever to make sure they get those positions. This explains why rigging elections is a common phenomenon in my country.

I have been an observer during elections in my country under the Women's International League for Peace and Security (WILFP). I can testify to the level of corruption during elections in Cameroon. I witness a situation where an elector went against election rules and lodged in a hotel closer to the polling station, voters are taken to their hotel room, and handed envelopes to vote for their party.

I know many will blame voters for collecting little amounts and choosing the wrong leaders to continue to suffer.

Come to think of it, you are unemployed and have nothing to eat for days. And someone offers you 1000 Steem and still promised to give you a job if he is elected to power? I do not see how an unemployed person, will resist this. I blamed the corrupt, so-called leaders who are interested in enriching themselves via state coffers and the poor continue to become beggars of what everyone should enjoy as a citizen.

Assume there's no fairness and effectiveness as far as elections are concerned, what solutions can you propose to ensure it's being carried out the right way?

The following ways can be adopted to make elections free, fair and transparent in Cameroon.

• There should be a standard term of office for the president no matter how good you think you are. Do not manipulate the constitution to stay in power for as long as you want.
• The election body, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), should be an independent body elected by the different political parties. Members of the body should not be appointed.
• Introduction of a computerised system to automatically count votes as voters are voting and recording live on screens. People should be aware of how their votes are counted.
• A single ballot paper for all candidates should be used. This will reduce the cost of production of multiple election papers and also reduce corruption.
• Campaigns should not be done during voting as is the case with some electors campaigning voters on Election Day.
• All political parties should be given equal opportunities to campaign on state media. The state media is not meant to serve only the ruling party during elections.

Conclusion.

In summary, elections are meant for citizens to choose their representatives to serve the population. This does not reflect reality in my country as those elected are there for their self-interest and not to serve the interest of the common man. In the nutshell, elections in Cameroon are not free fair and transparent and I think the suggestions above will help to mitigate the issues. I am challenging @majerius, @eliany and @marpa to share their thoughts.