By Amindeh Blaise Atabong
DAKAR, April 4 (Reuters) - Cameroon's parliament on Saturday overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to reintroduce the position of vice president, a measure the government says will ensure continuity but which the opposition say will consolidate executive power.
In a joint session of the ruling party-dominated National Assembly and Senate, lawmakers voted 200 to 18 in favour, with four abstentions, to pass the bill.
The bill stipulates that the vice president will automatically assume the presidency if President Paul Biya dies, resigns, or becomes incapacitated.
Biya, 93, has led the oil- and cocoa-producing Central African country since 1982 and is the world's oldest serving head of state. Public discussion about his health is banned.
According to the legislation, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, the vice president will be appointed and dismissed by the president, serving for the remainder of the president's seven-year term.
However, the interim leader would be prohibited from initiating constitutional changes or running in a subsequent election.
The government has argued that the reform is intended to safeguard institutional stability in case of a sudden leadership vacancy. Biya has 15 days to promulgate the bill.
Critics, including opposition lawmakers, argue the amendment weakens democratic institutions and exacerbates centralisation.
Joshua Osih, a member of parliament and chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Front, said the changes were a missed opportunity to boost national unity and democratic governance in the nation torn by a civil conflict since 2017.
"This text weakens legitimacy, reinforces centralisation, and ignores a major historical grievance," Osih said, calling instead for a system where the president and vice president are jointly elected, reflecting Cameroon's origins as a union of British and French-administered territories.
The reintroduction of the vice presidency marks Cameroon's first major constitutional revision since 2008 when presidential term limits were scrapped in a move that sparked nationwide protests, which were met with a violent crackdown by security forces.
The vice presidency was previously part of Cameroon's governance structure but was abolished in 1972 following a constitutional referendum.
(Reporting by Amindeh Blaise AtabongEditing by Bate Felix and Alison Williams)
