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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth to Observe Parliamentary Elections in Cameroon

7 May 1997

A team of 13 Commonwealth Observers, together with a supporting team from the Commonwealth Secretariat, will be present in Cameroon for the elections to the National Assembly which are to be held there on 17 May 1997.

In making this announcement today, Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku said that the Commonwealth was responding to a request from the Government of the Republic of Cameroon for a Commonwealth Group to observe the parliamentary elections. An Assessment Mission from the Commonwealth Secretariat, which visited Cameroon in April, established that there was widespread political support for a Commonwealth presence during the elections.

The Commonwealth Observer Group to Cameroon will be led by the Hon Jean-Jacques Blais, a former Minister in the Canadian Government. The other observers will be:


Mr Frank Abdulah     Trinidad and Tobago
Former Diplomat

Hon Margaret Alva     India
Member of Parliament

Mr Charles Chadwick     Britain
Former Public Servant

Hon Kenneth Dzirasah     Ghana
Member of Parliament and
First Deputy Speaker

Senator Charmaine Gardner    St Lucia
Former Deputy President
of the Senate

Ms Trudy Gibson      Canada
Electoral Expert
 
Mr Selwyn Jones      St Vincent and the Grenadines
Supervisor of Elections 

Mr M M Rezaul Karim     Bangladesh
Former Diplomat

Mr Masing R Lauru     Vanuatu
Electoral Commissioner

Hon M M A Nyama     South Africa
Deputy Speaker
Northern Provincial Legislature

Hon Daivanaden Poinoosawmy    Mauritius
Member of Parliament

Mr Bernardin Renaud     Seychelles
Ombudsman and
former Chief Electoral Officer

The Group will be supported by a nine-member team from the Commonwealth Secretariat, led by Mr Jon Sheppard, Director of the Political Affairs Division.

 


Note to Editors: The mission to Cameroon will be the 21st election observer mission mounted by the Commonwealth since October 1990; the most recent of which was in Pakistan last February. The observer missions are to be seen in the context of a decision taken by Commonwealth Heads of Government to support the promotion of democracy in a number of ways, including the observation, on request, of elections in member states.

Cameroon joined the Commonwealth as its 52nd member state on 1 November 1995. This will be the first time that the Commonwealth will be observing elections in that country.

 

97/20   7 May 1997

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