In this file photo taken on October 5, 2019, Cameroonian opposition leader Maurice Kamto is greeted and acclaimed by hundreds of supporters in Yaounde after his release from prison. The United States on November 19, 2019, urged Cameroon to devolve power in its troubled anglophone region, saying the government’s military response was only strengthening separatists. Nagy told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee. STRINGER / AFP
Cameroon’s main opposition figure, Maurice Kamto, on Monday said his party would boycott the country’s legislative and municipal elections on February 9.
Kamto said the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) would not take part in the vote.
“The MRC,” he added, “calls on Cameroonians not to go out and vote and to stay at home on February 9, 2020, to avoid giving credibility to elections which will not restore peace in our country.”
Kamto, 65, was arrested in late January after months of peaceful protests over the disputed results of an October 2018 presidential election.
The ballot was won by President Paul Biya, who has ruled the Central African state with an iron fist for 37 years.
Kamto went on trial with dozens of others in a military court in September on charges of insurrection, hostility to the motherland and rebellion.
He was freed in October after a military court ordered his release at Biya’s behest, a move seen as a surprise conciliatory gesture by the veteran president.
Cameroon Opposition Says Party To Boycott Legislative Poll
