Cameroon registered 252,830 new voters during its 2026 annual electoral roll revision, bringing the provisional total to 8,238,778 ahead of the country’s next legislative and municipal elections. New registrations, however, fell well short of the level reached during the previous campaign.

Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) recorded the new voters between January 2 and the August 31 deadline. The provisional roll could still change after the electoral body reviews the lists and corrects issues such as duplicate registrations.

Men accounted for 150,954 of the new registrations and women for 101,876. Young people represented 169,225, or nearly 67% of the total, including 103,230 men and 65,995 women. ELECAM also registered 176 people with disabilities.

The Centre region recorded the largest number of new voters at 37,595, or nearly 14.9% of the total. The Far North followed with 34,924, ahead of the Northwest with 32,869, the Littoral with 28,320 and the Southwest with 28,112.

24,516 voters removed after deaths

The annual revision covers more than new registrations. ELECAM also reported 39,681 updates to the electoral roll, including 803 modifications, 14,362 transfers and 24,516 removals following deaths.

Those removals partly explain the difference between gross registrations and the net increase in the roll. Excluding the diaspora, the number of voters rose from 7,976,053 at the end of 2025 to 8,204,133 at the end of August 2026, a net increase of 228,080.

With the diaspora included, the provisional total stands at 8,238,778. ELECAM must still review the lists to address possible duplicates and other cases that require correction.

Registrations slow from 2025

New voter registrations declined substantially from the previous campaign. By June 26, 2025, ELECAM had already registered 373,588 voters since the start of that year.

The 252,830 registrations recorded through August 31, 2026, were 120,758 lower, a decline of 32.3%. The difference is particularly notable because the 2025 figure had been reached more than two months before the normal end of the annual registration period.

The comparison, however, comes with an important qualification. Registration in 2025 ended early after the electorate was formally called to vote in the October 12 presidential election. In a normal year, the annual revision continues through August 31.

228,314 more voters than in the 2025 presidential election

The latest figures can also be compared with the final electoral roll used for the October 12, 2025 presidential election, which contained 8,010,464 voters.

The provisional August 2026 roll has 8,238,778 voters, an increase of 228,314 in 11 months, or 2.85%. That increase is smaller than the 252,830 new registrations recorded in 2026, notably because ELECAM also removed 24,516 deceased voters from the roll during the revision.

Legislative and municipal elections ahead

The updated electoral roll comes ahead of Cameroon’s next legislative and municipal elections. The terms of members of parliament, originally due to expire on March 31, 2026, have been extended until December 20, 2026. The terms of municipal councilors elected in February 2020 now run through February 28, 2027, unless elections take place before then.

No election date has yet been officially announced. Under Cameroon’s Electoral Code, at least 90 days must separate the decree formally calling voters to the polls from election day.

The electoral roll produced from the 2026 revision is therefore set to provide one of the voter bases for the upcoming elections once ELECAM completes its review and establishes the final lists.

Source: Business in Cameroon