Cameroon People's Democratic Movement

The Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM, French: Rassemblement démocratique du Peuple Camerounais, RDPC) is the ruling political party in Cameroon.

History

Previously known as the Cameroon National Union, which had dominated Cameroon politics since independence in 1960, it was renamed in 1985. The National President of the CPDM is Paul Biya, the President of Cameroon,^[1] while the Secretary-General of the RDPC's Central Committee is René Emmanuel Sadi.^[2]

The CPDM won 88 out of 180 seats in the National Assembly of Cameroon in the March 1992 parliamentary election, and through an alliance with the Movement for the Defense of the Republic (MDR), which won six seats, it obtained a parliamentary majority.^[3][4] Biya subsequently won the October 1992 presidential election with about 40% of the vote, ahead of John Fru Ndi of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), who won about 36%.^[3] The CPDM gained 116 of the 180 seats in the May 1997 parliamentary election^[5] (it initially won 109 seats,^[6] but it subsequently won in the three constituencies where the election was held over again in August, gaining seven more seats^[5]) and in the October 1997 presidential election, Biya received 92.6% of the vote amidst an opposition boycott.^[4] In the parliamentary election held on 30 June 2002, the party won 149 out of 180 seats, including 16 seats won in a revote on 15 September for constituencies where the election had been invalidated.^[7] In the presidential election held on 11 October 2004, Biya won 70.9 % of the vote.

The CPDM won 140 out of the 163 initially declared seats in the July 2007 parliamentary election,^[8][9] and it won another 13 seats (out of 17 at stake) in constituencies where the vote was held over again in September, thus winning a total of 153 seats.^[10]

The party held its first ordinary congress, at which Biya told the party to prepare for competition as the move toward multiparty democracy was beginning, on June 28, 1990 in Yaoundé. The CPDM's first extraordinary congress was held in Yaoundé on October 7, 1995, and its second ordinary congress was held on December 17–19, 1996.^[11] The party held its second extraordinary congress on July 7, 2001^[11][12] and its third extraordinary congress on July 21, 2006 in Yaoundé.^[11][13] Biya has been consistently re-elected as the CPDM's National President.^[11]

References

1. ^ "Les membres du bureau politique", RDPC website (French).
2. ^ "René Emmanuel SADI : L'efficacité discrète", RDPC website (French).
3. ^ ^{a b} John Mukum Mbaku, "Decolonization, Reunification and Federation in Cameroon", in The Leadership Challenge in Africa: Cameroon Under Paul Biya, pages 33–34.
4. ^ ^{a b} "UK Home Office Immigration and Nationality Directorate Country Assessment - Cameroon", UNHCR.org.
5. ^ ^{a b} Victor Julius Ngoh, "Biya and the Transition to Democracy", The Leadership Challenge in Africa: Cameroon Under Paul Biya, page 444.
6. ^ "Cameroon: Opposition arrests reported after announcement of election results", Radio France Internationale (nl.newsbank.com), June 8, 1997.
7. ^ "Législatives partielles: le parti au pouvoir remporte 16 des 17 sièges", AFP (Cameroon-info.net), September 27, 2002 (French).
8. ^ "Les résultats des législatives du 22 juillet 2007 proclamés.", Cameroonian government website (French).
9. ^ "Cameroun: l'écrasante victoire du parti de Biya aux législatives confirmée", AFP (Jeuneafrique.com), August 10, 2007 (French).
10. ^ "Les résulats des législatives partielles proclamés par la Cour suprême", Xinhua (Jeuneafrique.com), October 15, 2007 (French).
11. ^ ^{a b c d} "21 ANS DE TÂTONNEMENT", Camerounlink.net, July 21, 2007 (French).
12. ^ "Notre revue de presse de la semaine du 9 au 15 juillet 2001", Cameroon-Info.net, July 16, 2001 (French).
13. ^ "Paul Biya réélu sans surprise à la tête du RDPC", rfi.fr, July 22, 2006 (French).

External links