{"id":61543,"date":"2020-02-11T12:34:24","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T04:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=61543"},"modified":"2020-02-11T12:34:25","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T04:34:25","slug":"cameroons-elections-marred-by-low-turnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=61543","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon\u2019s elections marred by low turnout"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/assets.irinnews.org\/styles\/responsive_large\/s3\/reuters-cameroon-elections-paul-biya.jpg?tOU5LydwlHFtZPaonmwu71YF93f6uXDH&amp;itok=GbUIZFlJ\" alt=\"Cameroon President Paul Biya attends the Paris Peace Forum, France, 12 November 2019.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">President Paul Biya <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>YAOUNDE, Feb 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Legislative and municipal elections in Cameroon on Sunday were marked by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/cameroon-elections-polls-overshadowed-by-boycott-separatist-violence\/a-52314795\">low voter turnout<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 especially in the Central African nation\u2019s two troubled western regions, where anglophone separatist rebels had called for a poll boycott.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2020\/02\/polls-open-cameroon-vote-overshadowed-violence-boycott-200209054421982.html\">reports of clashes<\/a>&nbsp;with the security forces in Muyuka, a rebel stronghold in the Northwest region, and the towns of Buea and Kuma in the Southwest region.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In escalating tensions ahead of the elections, the separatists threatened violence against anyone&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenewhumanitarian.org\/news\/2020\/02\/06\/Cameroon-elections-anglophone-separatist-insurgency-Ambazonia\">defying their \u201clockdown\u201d<\/a>, which kept people off the streets and closed schools and&nbsp; businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The elections \u2013 the first in seven years after two postponements \u2013 were subdued in the rest of the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The opposition MRC party refused to put up candidates after their leader\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/20200209-cameroon-elections-dominated-by-boycott-and-separatist-violence\">Maurice Kamto<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 who was jailed for nine months after losing the 2018 presidential election \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.journalducameroun.com\/en\/cameroon-paul-biya-takes-swipe-at-maurice-kamto-after-voting\/\">refused to participate<\/a>.\u00a0He now lives abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Results from the elections are expected in two weeks\u2019 time. They are unlikely to threaten the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cameroonintelligencereport.com\/biya-francophone-regime-steps-up-propaganda-war-amid-bloody-crackdown-on-southern-cameroonians\/\">37-year rule of President Paul Biya<\/a>. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Paul Biya YAOUNDE, Feb 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Legislative and municipal elections in Cameroon on Sunday were marked by\u00a0low voter turnout\u00a0\u2013 especially in the Central African nation\u2019s two troubled western regions, where anglophone separatist rebels had called for a poll boycott.\u00a0 There were&nbsp;reports of clashes&nbsp;with the security forces in Muyuka, a rebel stronghold in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61543"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}