Le régime juridique des étrangers au Cameroun

c) Discriminations in the exercise of the voting rights

The vote is generally heard as an act by which a citizen takes part, while deciding in a determined direction, with the choice of its representatives or the making of a decision. The principle of the non-discrimination, preached by the international standards of protection of the basic rights, makes it possible to confer the voting rights the abroads although the near total of the States, like Cameroun, are still refractory there. Indeed, article 2 (3) of the constitutional corpus specifies that all the old citizens of at least 20 years take part in the vote. Thus, only the people of Cameronian extraction^105(*) are concerned with the presidential, legislative and municipal elections. It is thus about a discrimination of swears between the nationals and the foreigners (who exists besides in many countries).

Indeed, in the name of the equality between the human beings, proclaimed within the normative authorities of UNO, the UA and the CEMAC and reaffirmed in the preamble to the constitution of 1996, the Cameronian State should guarantee the privilege of the vote abroad very as much as to the national bus more and more of country, indeed, adopt already this attitude. Thus, in the Swiss cantons, for example, (in particular « Neuchâtel » and « The Jura »), the foreigners established since a certain number of years can take part in various aspects of the communal political life and nobody (even not the Swiss citizen) would think of calling into question this practice^106(*). The foreigner also takes part in the local elections in Denmark, in Norway and in the Netherlands^107(*). In the same way, the practice shows that in some African States, like Burkina-Faso, the foreigners having remained for a certain length of time vote at the local level.

Paradoxically, whereas the internal texts prohibit the vote the abroads, it was noted that persons in charge for parties political, for egoistic interests, recognize semi-officially this right to certain foreigners, instead of granting it, officially, with all. For this reason, a glance on the immigration Nigerian^108(*) which is numerically and historically one of most important in Cameroun makes it possible to note than a category of Nigerians, gathered in associations equipped with a strong economic weight, takes part clandestinely in the vote with the profit of the parties which use them. In the event of victory of the latter, they profit, in return, certain advantages in the exercise of their activities on the territory. As example, we can quote the members of « Nigerian Union », of « NAPSDA » and of « Timber Association ». On the other hand, the foreigners of poor social class are excluded from the benefit of this right. It is the case of the Association of the Benineses of Douala, which is also one of the oldest communities as well as the Nigerian, but less influential, also it is not the subject of any particular covetousness on behalf of the local authorities. This thus constitutes a discrimination de facto between the foreigners of social classes rich person and poor.

Let us be all, Cameroun should conform to the principles of non-discrimination and equality, by officially granting the privilege of the voting rights to all the foreigners.

The regular immigrant knows other forms of attacks which do not rise any more of the internal standards, but rather, of the people charged to apply the law.

* ¹⁰⁵ An individual is Cameronian of origin or by naturalization. We make a point of specifying that, except the procedures envisaged by each national law, the States in general recognize two traditional modes of granting of nationality. Also they distinguish  the juice sanguini (right to nationality by the blood tie) of the juice soli (right to nationality by fastening with the territory).

* ¹⁰⁶ WINDISCH (Uli), COp Cit, pp.33-38.

* ¹⁰⁷ DEBBASCH (Charles) and others, COp Cit, p.164.

* ¹⁰⁸ NKENE (Blaise-Jacques), «  Foreigners, actors of the Cameronian political life  : the experiment of the immigrants Nigerians in the town of Douala  », IN  Group of research and support at policies (GRAPS)/university of Yaounde II. ( http://polis.sciencespobordeaux.fr/vol8ns/article4.html)