Opposition wins final Cameroonian parlimentary seat
Source: Reuters
By Tansa Musa YAOUNDE, July 27 (Reuters) - Cameroon's opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) won the last outstanding seat from Sunday's parliamentary election, officials said on Friday, but the result did not upset the ruling party's huge majority. Opposition leaders had claimed President Paul Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) was trying to steal the election in the northwestern town of Santa. They had already denounced vote-rigging and intimidation across the central African country in Sunday's poll. Several days after results for the rest of the central African country, electoral officials in Santa said on Friday the SDF had won the seat, ending a tense standoff. "The vote counting commission ended its work on Thursday evening and it was very clear to everybody that the SDF won," said pastor Emmanuel Nfor, head of the divisional vote counting commission. The final election result left the CPDM with 156 of the 180 parliamentary seats, versus 15 for the SDF and four each for the smaller CDU and UNDP parties. The Progressive Movement party won one seat. Police had poured into Santa on Wednesday after some two thousand opposition supporters staged a peaceful protest at the electoral commission to demand the prompt publication of results. "Finally, calm and serenity has returned to Santa," said SDF Mayor Clement Wanki Atanga. "People are drinking and dancing all over in celebration of our victory, which the ruling party tried to seize by force." According to the Supreme Court, some 50 petitions challenging provisional election results published earlier this week by the Territorial Administration Ministry had already been filed ahead of a midnight deadline on Friday. The court has up to 20 days after polling day to examine the petitions and proclaim final results.
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