OPENING ADDRESS BY THE RIGHT HONORABLE CAVAYE YEGUIE DJIBRIL, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Yaoundé, June 10, 2025

Excellencies;

Distinguished guests;

Ladies and gentlemen.

The Paul BIYA Glass Palace welcomes you today, bearing its prestigious name. It is with great pleasure that I extend a warm welcome to this architectural gem.

⁠Excellences;

⁠Ladies and Gentlemen;

The days, weeks, and months are ticking by, bringing us inexorably closer to the major event that is the October 2025 Presidential Election in Cameroon. It is an understatement to say that the anticipated event is generating a lot of excitement across the country and even beyond. Faced with this excitement, I will continue to call on the various stakeholders to exercise restraint, responsibility, and patriotism. Let us not forget that after October 2025, Cameroon will continue to exist and will need the same stakeholders to meet the challenges facing our country today and even those of tomorrow.

We must therefore do everything we can, each at our own level, to ensure that this event takes place in a calm and serene atmosphere. Once again, we have the opportunity to demonstrate to the world Cameroon’s legendary ability to organize major events, including elections. It will also be an opportunity for our country to confirm the political maturity of its people and the solidity of its democratic foundation.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

A major challenge that Cameroon will have to address during the upcoming presidential election is the voter turnout. The latter is the barometer that reflects the civic spirit of voters and the degree of popular support for an election. However, to vote, one must be registered on an electoral roll. This is why I urge my compatriots of voting age to register en masse, while there is still time, so that when the time comes, they can exercise their sovereign duty.

To register on the electoral roll, the national identity card is an essential document. For those who do not yet have this precious key, I ask them to seize the opportunity offered by the new measures instructed by the Head of State to the competent authorities to facilitate access to a national identity card for compatriots. I also take this opportunity to commend both this important instruction from the Head of State and the innovative approach of the authorities concerned. To them, I extend my sincere congratulations. Thanks to the new measures, obtaining a national identity card is no longer an obstacle course. Not everything is yet finalized. According to our sources, the implementation of the system is continuing methodically. However, the main merits of these new measures lie in the reduced processing times and the high level of expertise with which the operations are carried out. However, it is desirable that, in the same vein, Cameroonian nationality be definitively secured.

Furthermore, I urge the active forces and other elites, Parliamentarians first and foremost, to demonstrate generosity and militant commitment, by supporting deprived compatriots to enable them to easily access the National Identity Card, for effective registration on the electoral lists. Finally, I call for action from all, before and after the election, so that the next Presidential election in Cameroon is an unforgettable success.

​Thereupon, I declare open the work of the second ordinary session of our Chamber for the legislative year 2025.

Long live the National Assembly;

⁠Long live His Excellency Mr. PAUL BIYA, President of the Republic, Head of State, so that Cameroon, our dear and beautiful country, may live.

Thank you.