The 92-year-old President of Cameroun with his wife
More than eight million eligible voters in Cameroun will head to the polls tomorrow, on Sunday, October 12, 2025, to vote for the next President who will lead the cocoa and oil-producing nation of nearly 30 million people for the next seven years.
Reports say, when the filing of candidates was first opened, 83 presidential candidates submitted their applications to the electoral body to contest, but only 12, including a woman, were approved to contest the elections and Cameroun does not hold run-offs, meaning the top vote-getter on Sunday wins.
Presidential candidates
The 12 presidential candidates are President Biya, candidate of the Democratic Rally of the Camerounian People (RDPC), with the others are being Cabral Libii, of the Camerounian Party for National Reconciliation; Joshua Osih, of the Social Democratic Front; Issa Tchiroma Bakary, of the Camerounian National Salvation Front; Beautiful Bouba Maigari, of the National Union for Democracy and Progress; and Serge Espoir Matomba, of the People United for Social Renewal.
The rest are Akere Muna of the Univers Party, Pierre Kwemo of the Union of Socialist Movements, Tomaino Hermine Patricia Ndam Njoya of the Democratic Union of Cameroun, Ateki Seta Caxton of the Liberal Alliance Party, Bouhga Hagbe Jacques of the National Citizens’ Movement of Cameroun and Hiram Samuel Iyodi of the Cameroun Democratic Front.
World oldest President
Meanwhile, the incumbent, President Paul Biya, aged 92 and currently holding the title as the world’s oldest head of state, has been in power for 43 years and is running for an eighth term on Sunday that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100, seeking to overcome frustration with his decades-long rule and a spirited challenge from a former government mouthpiece.
Maurice Kamto, Biya’s former ally, top challenger and runner-up in the 2018 election, has been disqualified this time and the remaining contenders have failed to rally around a unity candidate, boosting the President’s victory chances.
Read Also: President Ouattara To Contest For Fourth Term In October Election
Following the disqualification of popular opposition politician Maurice Kamto, a large proportion of Cameroun’s youth no longer believe in the legitimacy of the upcoming Presidential elections.
Tight grip on power
Biya took office in 1982 and has held a tight grip on power ever since, doing away with the presidential term limit in 2008 and winning re-election by comfortable margins.
Announcing his bid for an eighth term in July, Paul Biya, Cameroun’s 92-year-old President, said he was heeding “numerous and insistent” calls to stay in office, but this year’s election cycle has also featured striking appeals for him to step aside.
Biya’s rule has hollowed out democratic institutions, sidelined challengers, and weaponised the law to secure his grip while opposition parties remain fragmented with government crackdowns, which have stifled dissent and muted public protest.
What remains is the semblance of democracy and elections that serve less as a choice than as a ritual to preserve Biya’s reign.
Biya’s presidency
Biya’s uninterrupted presidency since 1982 has largely depended on a delicate mixture of autocratic rule, patronage, tactical patience, politics of silence as well as nepotism and tribalism.
In over four decades, he has outmanoeuvred rivals, reshaped institutions, and ensured that any path to power, legitimate or otherwise, passes through him.
Despite these criticisms, as well as a host of security and economic challenges, the world’s oldest head of state stands a strong chance of victory when the cocoa and oil-producing Central African country goes to the polls on October 12.
Analysts say he is buttressed by factors that have already helped keep him in power for more than four decades: an entrenched patronage system, flawed electoral institutions, a loyal army and a divided opposition.
Biya has held a tight grip on power since taking over as President in 1982 from his one-time mentor Ahmadou Ahidjo, whom he sidelined and forced into exile.
He survived a coup attempt in 1984 and a stiff challenge during Cameroun’s first multi-party elections in 1992, when he won 40 per cent of the vote, just three percentage points more than the runner-up.
Constitutional amendment
In 2008, Biya signed a constitutional amendment removing a two-term limit for the presidency and went on to win by comfortable margins in elections in 2011 and 2018, dismissing his opponents’ complaints of ballot stuffing and intimidation.
Biya’s biggest obstacle this time around could be his own health, which has long been a source of speculation, including last year when he disappeared from public view for 42 days.
The government has dismissed the health concerns as “pure fantasy”, though last year it also banned public discussion of the topic.
And Camerounians continue to grapple daily with poor access to basic amenities from roads and water to electricity and waste management.
What makes Biya’s grip on power so enduring is not just repression it is the illusion of legality.
Cameroun holds regular elections. It maintains a multiparty system. It boasts a constitutional council and an independent electoral body.
Singular political dynasty
But these structures have been hollowed out, their purpose repurposed to preserve a singular political dynasty.
There is no viable path to power that doesn’t first pass through the gate Biya has locked shut.
For all his frailty, Paul Biya is not a relic of a bygone era; he is the architect of a system built to outlast him. His true legacy may not be longevity, but the institutional paralysis he will leave behind.
And unless opposition leaders find a way to unify, unless citizens reclaim the democratic space stolen from them, Biya’s eighth term will not be his last.
Cameroun’s electoral body, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), said last Friday that 8,010,464 people have registered to vote in the country’s upcoming presidential election.
The voters include 3,716,567 women and 4,293,897 men, ELECAM said in a statement, adding that the vote will take place on Sunday at over 31,000 polling stations nationwide. – G
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