The General Directorate of Elections is in charge of the preparation and the material organization of the electoral and referendum operations, under the authority of the Electoral Council.

The General Directorate of Elections is placed under the authority of a General Manager assisted by a Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

The duties of General Manager and Deputy Chief Electoral Officer are incompatible with the functions or qualities referred to above:

• Member of the Government and assimilated;
• Member of the Constitutional Council;
• Magistrate in activity;
• Secretary General of Ministry and assimilated;
• General Manager of a public institution or a public and parapublic sector enterprise;
• Director of Central Administration and similar;
• Person exercising a national, regional or local elective mandate;
• Governor, General Secretaries and General Inspectors in the services of the Governor;
• Prefect, Sub-Prefect and their Deputies;
• Traditional chef;
• President of a consular chamber;
• Officer or staff of law enforcement agencies in operation;
• Person ineligible or incapacitated;
• Elected candidate controlled by Elections Cameroon;
• Member of a political party or support group to a political party, a list of candidates or a candidate.

From the Designation

The Director General and the Deputy Director General of Elections are appointed by decree of the President of the Republic for a term of five (05) years, possibly renewable, after consultation with the Electoral Council.

In the event of the vacancy of the position of General Manager or Deputy Director General of Elections, the latter shall be replaced in accordance with the procedure described for the duration of the mandate.

The duties of Chief Executive Officer or Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Elections terminate in one of the following cases:

non-renewal of the mandate;
resignation;
death.
The term of office of the Chief Executive Officer or Deputy Chief Electoral Officer may be terminated in any of the following circumstances:

physical or mental incapacity, duly noted by the Electoral Council;
gross negligence, duly noted by the Electoral Council;
definitive sentence to an afflictive or infamous sentence.
Attributions

The Director General of Elections is responsible, under the authority of the Electoral Council, for electoral or referendum operations, in particular:

• the constitution, management, updating and preservation of the national electoral register as well as electoral documents and materials;
• the acquisition and distribution of election materials and documents;
• the establishment of the electoral lists, in liaison with the competent mixed commissions;
• the publication of electoral lists;
• the establishment of electoral maps;
• the distribution of electoral cards, in conjunction with the competent mixed commissions;
• organizing or supervising the training of polling staff;
• preparation of the draft electoral budget;
• the implementation of the Elections Cameroon budget and the election budget;
• the management of resources of all kinds and the materials made available to it;
• the reception and transmission to the Electoral Council of the nomination files for the presidential election and the legislative, senatorial, regional and municipal elections;
• the reception and transmission to the Electoral Council of requests to participate in the referendum campaign.
• the delivery, within the time allowed by law, specimens of ballots to the candidates or the political parties taking part in the polls, with a view to electoral or referendum campaigns;
• the coordination of the actions of the observers accredited by the competent national authorities;
• the organization of polling stations;
• the coordination of all structures responsible for electoral operations;
• coordination of the transmission of election records and other election documents from the polling stations to the headquarters of Elections Cameroon;
• the transmission of the minutes of the elections to the Electoral Council.

For this purpose, the Chief Electoral Officer is vested with all the powers necessary for the performance of his duties.

It reports to the Electoral Council at least once a quarter and as often as necessary during the election period.

After each ballot, the Director General of Elections is responsible for the centralization of all election documents and materials and their preservation.

He prepares the final report on the conduct of elections.

The Director General of Elections administers Elections Cameroon under the authority of the Electoral Council.

He attends the Electoral Council meetings in an advisory capacity.

He represents Elections Cameroon within the scope of his powers and may sue.

The Deputy Director General of Elections exercises the powers and performs the tasks entrusted to him by the Director General of Elections as part of the administration of Elections Cameroon.

The General Directorate of Elections has Support Structures.