Solidifies Crackdown on Free Association, Expression Ahead of 2025 Vote
's territorial administration minister to make two opposition coalitions illegal is part of a government crackdown on opposition and dissent, Human Rights Watch said today.that the Political Alliance for Change , led by Jean-Michel Nintcheu, and the Political Alliance for Transition in Cameroon , led by Olivier Bile, are"illegal," calling them"clandestine movements.
The current president, Paul Biya, has been in power since 1982 and is serving out his seventh term. Biya, 91, was last reelected in 2018 after a contested vote-counting process. KamtoBiya's 2018 election sparked a wave of political repression. After the 2018 vote, opposition-led protests occurred across the country, and the government responded with a heavy crackdown and the use of excessive force by the police, army, and gendarmes.
Activists have expressed doubts over the legality of the government's ban."This decision is not based on any legal texts," Emmanuel Simh, a prominent rights activist and lawyer for the MRC, told Human Rights Watch."No law in Cameroon prevents legally established parties getting together to establish a coalition. It's just repression and another attempt to muzzle the opposition, to prevent it from organizing ahead of the next presidential elections.
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