Cameroon awaits election results as Paul Biya seeks an eighth term

Votes are being counted in Cameroon following Sunday’s presidential election in which current President Paul Biya seeks to extend his 43-year rule.

Biya, who is 92 years old and the oldest head of state in the world, is competing against nine candidates. If he wins, this will be his eighth consecutive term in office, with the next election scheduled for 2032.

Interior Minister Paul Atanga Njie said voting took place “unhindered” across the country. But there have been calls for a boycott in the English-speaking regions of the west, and there have been reports of clashes in the north.

The final result is scheduled to be announced within 15 days of voting.

In the run-up to the elections, there were complaints from the opposition about attempts to suppress its support.

In August, the Constitutional Council banned 71-year-old Maurice Kamto, widely seen as the main contender, from participating.

On Sunday, angry supporters of the main opposition candidate and former Biya ally, Issa Chiroma Bakare, 76, took to the streets in his stronghold of Garoua. They clashed with security forces, who fired tear gas after surrounding his house.

Earlier in the day, Chiroma said he had been subjected to threats.

“Chiroma is not the problem,” he told reporters, adding that he “places himself under the protection of God and the Cameroonian people.”

He declared: “I am at home, and I will not move. If they intend to come and take me from the house, I will not move.”

Despite this, Interior Minister Njie said the elections were held without major incidents in all 10 regions of the country.

He did not comment on the situation in Garoua but rather repeated previous allegations that some presidential candidates were planning to publish the election results before the official announcement.

Njie described this as a big red line, and threatened to take action against anyone suspected of breaking the law.

In the two troubled English-speaking regions, where separatists tried to prevent residents from voting, some headed to polling stations. But many others stayed away for fear of retaliation.