However, not all of the opposition is celebrating. Hilaire Kamga, a human rights activist who authored a book in early 2010 calling for political change in Cameroon (L'offre Orange pour l'alternance), claims that the amendments are a sham concession designed to facilitate fraud and silence the opposition. The second law has removed Elecam's fundamental power to announce election results. Instead, the Constitutional Council-which has not yet been created, despite being referenced in the 1996 constitution-has been granted the exclusive right to announce the results of elections. This is apparently an attempt to avoid the kind of divisive scenario that occurred recently in Côte d'Ivoire, where the country's electoral commission and constitutional commission announced conflicting results. In the absence of the Constitutional Council in Cameroon, the Supreme Court will announce the results. According to Mr Kamga, as well as other opposition figures, such as the presidential candidate Edith Kah Walla, the judiciary's lack of independence raises concerns about the impartiality of election results and all but negates any influence of the expanded Elecam board.

The new laws also assert governmental influence over the election process directly by introducing procedural changes related to local voting commissions that come on top of similar amendments in March 2010, which likewise boosted the regime's influence over the vote (May 2010, The political scene). The new changes are subtle and partly semantic. For example, Local voting commissions that are in charge of registration and voting lists will also now have to work "in relation" to political parties, rather than "in collaboration". The presidents of these local voting commissions were given sole power to sign off on official minutes from meetings, thereby controlling information and evidence of fraud, according to Mr Kamga. Elections in Cameroon are governed by numerous and sometimes conflicting laws and the opposition has campaigned for the passing of a single electoral code. This and other reforms demanded by the opposition-such as the introduction of biometric technology, a run-off vote for presidential elections and the overhaul of voter lists-are unlikely to be met.