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Cameroon’s election body launched the 2026 voter roll revision with a focus on youth and women participation.
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Legislative and municipal elections could take place earlier than usual amid compressed timelines.
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Young voters under 35 accounted for more than 32% of the electorate ahead of the last presidential vote.
On January 12, 2026, in Yaoundé, Elections Cameroon (Elecam) Director General Erik Essousse officially launched the annual revision of the electoral register for 2026.
Elecam placed the campaign under the theme “Mass registration of women and youth on electoral lists for increased participation in the electoral process.” The election management body said it would prioritize these two demographic groups.
Elecam translated the message into a slogan—“Youth and women, 2026 belongs to you”—displayed on campaign visuals shared on its official Facebook page. Through this outreach, the institution emphasized the expansion of the voter register to secure broader participation in upcoming elections.
This revision opened amid an increasingly tight electoral calendar. Legislative and municipal elections scheduled for 2026 in Cameroon could take place earlier than usual, possibly in May or August, while the traditional deadline for voter registration remains August 31.
Authorities initially scheduled these elections for February 2025. President Paul Biya postponed the polls several times.
A decree dated July 24, 2024 extended the mandate of municipal executives until May 31, 2026, while the mandate of members of parliament will expire on March 30, 2026. Elecam said these shifts increased the importance of the voter roll revision for both institutional representativeness and citizen participation in the upcoming ballots.
According to statistics published on October 9, 2025, on the eve of the October 12 presidential election, Cameroon’s electoral register listed 8,010,464 voters.
Among them, 34,411 voters resided abroad and were distributed across 108 polling stations overseas, representing 0,43% of the electorate. At the national level, Elecam recorded 4,293,897 men and 3,716,567 women across 31,653 polling stations nationwide.
Youth voters emerged as a central bloc. Elecam counted 2,581,965 voters under the age of 35, representing 32,2% of the electorate. The report noted that this group, often the most affected by unemployment and the most critical of the political system, could play a decisive role, particularly in the upcoming legislative elections.
Elecam said it had mobilized its staff since January 2 and acknowledged the political stakes of the process. The institution said it aimed to strengthen institutional representativeness by consolidating the electorate and encouraging mass participation, with a specific focus on youth and women.
Elecam also framed this focus as part of political continuity. President Paul Biya has said youth and women will stand at the center of his new seven-year term, citing their strategic importance for Cameroon’s political future.
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