Paul Biya has received 53.66% of the votes cast in Cameroon’s October 12 presidential election, according to official results
Cameroon’s incumbent president, Paul Biya, has been officially declared the winner of the Central African country’s recent election, securing a new seven-year term that will keep him in office until he is nearly 100.
The Constitutional Council announced Monday that Biya won 53.66% of the vote in the October 12 election, while his main challenger, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, obtained 35.19%.
Tchiroma declared himself the winner two days after polls closed, citing internal tallies that he said put him ahead of Biya. The opposition Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon party leader – who formerly served as transport and communication minister – resigned from government in June to challenge the veteran politician.
At least four people were killed in the coastal city of Douala on Sunday when opposition supporters defied protest bans and clashed with security forces on the eve of the official announcement of the election results, accusing authorities of rigging the vote.
The unrest continued on Monday, with Tchiroma reporting that two people were killed when snipers opened fire on a crowd gathered outside his residence in the northern city of Garoua. A local journalist also told the BBC that “a number of people” were shot dead near the opposition leader’s home.
Biya, 92, has ruled since 1982, making him the world’s oldest leader and Africa’s second longest-serving head of state after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema. He is the second man to lead Cameroon since it gained independence from France in 1960. He removed presidential term limits in 2008, paving the way for his continued rule.
In his post-victory statement, the president noted “the weight of the responsibility” entrusted to him and called for unity in building a peaceful and prosperous Cameroon.
“My first thoughts are with all those who have unnecessarily lost their lives, as well with their families, as a result of the post-election violence,” Biya stated.
Biya’s controversial eighth-term win has been marked by mass disqualifications and legal challenges, with the final ballot cut to 12 names from an initial 83 candidates. Voter turnout was 58% of the 8.2 million registered voters in a nation of 29 million. The Constitutional Council has reportedly rejected ten petitions alleging electoral malpractice.
