CPDM Crime Syndicate: Atanga Nji suspends Tchiroma’s FSNC for 3 months

The Cameroonian Democratic Union (UDC) and the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (Manidem) questioned the electoral consequences of the suspension of the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC), the party of Issa Tchiroma Bakary. In statements published on October 28, 2026, both parties challenged the motives behind the decision, which comes ahead of the next legislative and municipal elections.

Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji signed Order No. 000163/A/MINAT on October 27. It bars the FSNC from any activity across the national territory for three months. The minister cites calls for insurrection, attacks on territorial integrity, incitement to violence and serious public order disturbances linked to the October 12, 2025 presidential election. He also points to the fact that one of the party’s statutory leaders lives abroad.

The timing of the decision raises questions for Hermine Patricia Tomaïno Ndam Njoya, the UDC’s national president. “Is this a measure expressly intended to prevent the party’s candidates from preparing calmly for the coming elections?” she asked in a statement released on October 28.

She also urged the authorities to guarantee participation by as many people as possible in the legislative and municipal elections. In particular, she called on them to take the necessary steps so that the polls are “as inclusive as possible.”

Manidem makes sharper accusations. In a statement signed the same day in Douala, its political bureau described the suspension as a “crude maneuver by a declining RDPC regime.” The party backed Issa Tchiroma Bakary in the 2025 presidential race, and it accuses the government of using administrative measures to neutralize its opponents.

According to Manidem, authorities “unable to beat their opponents at the ballot box” seek electoral victories “by default.” The party therefore presents the FSNC suspension as an attempt to sideline a political competitor before the coming votes.

These reactions come a few days after the UN Human Rights Committee reviewed Cameroon in Geneva on October 22 and 23. During the exchanges, expert Hélène Tigroudja pointed to legislative criteria she described as vague, which allow authorities to refuse the registration of an association, suspend its activities or dissolve it. She also cited reports of stigmatizing rhetoric from the executive toward civil society organizations and opposition parties.

In response, the Cameroonian delegation said the state did not aim to prevent opposition parties from meeting. It added that administrative decisions on parties and associations can be challenged in court, and it cited several court rulings from 2020 and 2025.

These Geneva exchanges took place before the FSNC suspension, so they do not address it directly. The ban remains in force for three months from October 27, and its effects on the preparation and filing of candidacies for the coming elections remain unclear.

Source: Sbbc