The

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

is the

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

History

The Senate was created in 1996 after an amendment to the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

created the upper chamber. However, power to convene the Electoral College and call elections for the Senate remained with the President. President

Paul Biya Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo; 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has served as the president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982.

chose not to do so until he signed decree 2013/056 on 27 February 2013, which set 14 April as the election date.

Electoral system

The Senate has 100 seats, of which 70 are elected and 30 appointed by the President, with each

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

having 10 Senators. The elected seats are elected by the 10,636 members of the 360 municipal councils. Elections to the Senate were held for the first time on 14 April 2013.Focus On: Cameroon’s First Senate Race
IFES

Marcel Niat Njifenji Marcel Niat Njifenji (born 26 October 1934Armand Essogo"Marcel Niat Njifenji, Un homme d’expérience à la tête du Sénat" ''Cameroon Tribune'', 13 June 2013 .) is a Cameroonian politician who has been President of the Senate of Cameroon since ...

was elected as President of the Senate on 12 June 2013. The President of the Senate is the constitutionally designated successor to the President of the Republic in case of a vacancy in the latter office.

Presidents of the Senate

Current members of the Senate

The Senate consists of 70 members directly elected by their regions and 30 nominated by the president of Cameroon.

References

{{National upper houses Politics of Cameroon

2013 establishments in Cameroon