In the move that has already led to angry protests, President Paul Biya has sent a proposal to parliament that would further weaken the Cameroon’s electoral organ, Elecam.

A draft bill tabled Wednesday takes away the organ’s powers to publish election result trends and makes the proclamation of results the sole business of an inexistent Constitutional Council.

It also increases the organ’s board from 12 to 18 members but fails grant key demands such a life term for election officers, which advocates say would guarantee the independence of the organ.

The new proposal appeared to have been intended to avoid the situation that rocked the Ivory Coast’s runoff presidential election and plunged the country into a political stalemate, after the election organ and Constitutional Council published different results.

Justifying the decision, the government said certain provisions of the law needed to be adapted to improve the functioning of the organ that was created in 2006 but went operational only in 2008.

Parliament went into an extra-ordinary session on Tuesday to begin looking at the bill, which was table alongside a second bill which hands the Speaker of Senate, which is also inexistent, the power to change government in the event of a vacant presidency.

The bills are expected to easily pass through the House thanks to the crushing majority of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM).

Opposition lawmakers said they were still opposed to the Elecam law and called for its complete revision.

“Elecam is so bad that it should just be swept away,” said Paul Nji Tumasang, the SDF lawmaker from Mezam.

“The law itself should be respected. Now they have increased the board from 12 to 18. I hope that the 12 that are there would be swept away. They are all members of the CPDM club.”

It is the second time the Elecam law has been rivised. A previous amendment in 2010 brough back some officials of the ministry of territorail administration to play a role in the running of polls.

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