The 2023 Cameroonian senatorial elections took place on March 12, 2023 in order to elect 70 of the 100 members of the Cameroonian Senate. With the support of a large majority of municipal and regional councillors, the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Rally won all the seats.

Electoral system

The

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

is the upper house of the

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

parliament of Cameroon. It is composed of 100 senators who are fully renewed every five years. Each of the 10

regions of Cameroon The Republic of Cameroon is divided into ten regions. History Between 1961 and 1972, Cameroon was a federal republic made up of two federated states, East Cameroon and West Cameroon. A unitary system came into being in 1972. The countr ...

is represented by ten senators, seven of whom are elected by an

electoral college An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

composed of members of the municipal and regional councils, i.e. 70 elected senators. The three remaining senators from each region are appointed by the President of the Republic, i.e. thirty senators. In each region, the seats of the seven elected senators are filled according to a mixed system with a majority purpose: this is a multi-member proportional vote combined with a majority bonus awarded to the list that comes first. Voters vote for a closed list of candidates, without mixing or preferential voting . The list that obtained the absolute majority of votes cast wins all seven seats to be filled in the region. If none of them achieves this majority, the list that comes first wins a bonus of four seats, and the three remaining seats are distributed proportionally according to the rule of the largest remainder between all the lists that have crossed the regional electoral thresholdof 5% of the votes cast, including the list that comes first. In the event of a tie in the votes of the two leading lists, the latter receive half of the bonus, i.e. two seats each. The vote of the grand electors takes place in the chief towns of the departments, by secret ballot. It is obligatory, under penalty of forfeiture of the mandate of municipal or regional councilor. In return, the State covers the travel expenses and allows voting by proxy via another member of the electoral college, at the rate of only one proxy per member. Candidates must be at least forty years of age, have Cameroonian nationality by birth, reside in the region where they are running and belong to a political party.

References

{{Cameroonian senatorial elections

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Elections in Cameroon

Electoral system

See also

References