Helen Maguire: “Thank you very much, Jay. I was honored also to be a member of one of the missions to Ukraine, which Jay has just…”

“Thank you very much, Jay. I was honored also to be a member of one of the missions to Ukraine, which Jay has just described so eloquently. Mr. President, I would refer now to another election-monitoring project that the association participated in during 2004, the monitoring of the October presidential election in Cameroon. From October 8 through 12, the association sent a delegation of six former Members, three Republicans and three Democrats, to Cameroon to serve as official election observers for the presidential election on October 11. The delegation received certification as official election observers from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization in Cameroon in order to enable the delegation to travel and observe freely. According to the constitution and laws of Cameroon, the people of Cameroon are entitled to express their views on candidates and parties at the ballot box freely and without interference from any source. The mission focused exclusively on the fairness of the election process and did not advocate for any particular candidate or party. In Cameroon, the delegation split into three groups of two and traveled within the two major cities: Yaounde, the capital; and Douala, the financial center; and also in the English-speaking southwest province.…”