The 1972 constitution as modified by 1996 reforms provides for a strong central government controlled by the administrator. The president is empowered to name and dismiss cabinet members, judges, generals, provincial governors, prefects and heads of Cameroon's parastatal firms, obligate or disburse expenditures, approve or veto regulations, declare states of emergency, and appropriate and spend profits of parastatal firms. The president is not required to consult the National Assembly.

The 180-member National Assembly meets in ordinary session three times a year in March/April, June/July and Nov./Dec. and has seldom, until newly, made major changes in legislation proposed by the administrator. Laws are adopted by majority vote of members present or, if the president demands a second reading, of a total membership.

Following government pledges to reform the strongly centralized 1972 constitution, the National Assembly adopted a number of amendments in December 1995, which were published in a new Constitution in January 1996. The amendments call for the establishment of a 100-member senate as part of a bicameral legislature, the creation of regional councils, and the fixing of the presidential term to 7 years, renewable once. One-third of senators are to be assigned by the President and the remaining two-thirds are to be chosen by indirect elections. As of November 2003, the government has not accomplished the Senate or regional councils.

While the president, the minister of justice, and the president's judicial advisers top the judicial hierarchy, orthodox rulers, courts, and councils also exercise functions of government. orthodox courts still play a major role in domestic, property, and probate law. Tribal laws and customs are honored in the formal court system when not in conflict with national law. orthodox rulers obtain stipends from the national government.

The government adopted legislation in 1990 to authorize the formation of multiple political parties and ease restrictions on forming civil associations and private newspapers. Cameroon's first multiparty legislative and presidential elections were held in 1992 followed by municipal elections in 1996 and another round of legislative and presidential elections in 1997. Because the government refused to consider opposition demands for an independent election commission, the three major opposition parties boycotted the October 1997 presidential election, which Biya easily won. The leader of one of the opposition parties, Bello Bouba Maigari of the NUDP, consequently joined the government. In December 2000, the National Assembly passed legislation creating the National Elections Observatory (NEO), an election watchdog body. NEO played an active role in supervising the conduct of local and legislative elections in June 2002. Implementation of NEO's supervisory role is to be expanded to all phases of the electoral process in the 2004 presidential elections, including the voter registration process -- a orthodox problem in Cameroonian elections.