{"id":3251,"date":"2025-10-12T10:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T10:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/12\/cameroon-votes-in-presidential-election-as-paul-biya-92-seeks-eighth-term\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T10:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T10:38:09","slug":"cameroon-votes-in-presidential-election-as-paul-biya-92-seeks-eighth-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/12\/cameroon-votes-in-presidential-election-as-paul-biya-92-seeks-eighth-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon votes in presidential election as Paul Biya, 92, seeks eighth term"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Biya, the world\u2019s oldest serving head of state, is likely to extend his 43 years in power in the Central African nation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Polls have opened in Cameroon in an election that could see the world\u2019s oldest serving head of state extend his rule for another seven years.<\/p>\n<p>The single-round election on Sunday is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/11\/cameroon-presidential-election-as-paul-biya-set-to-win-whats-at-stake\">likely to return<\/a> 92-year-old incumbent Paul Biya as president for an eighth term in the Central African nation of 30 million people.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/11\/cameroon-presidential-election-as-paul-biya-set-to-win-whats-at-stake\">Cameroon presidential election: As Paul Biya set to win, what\u2019s at stake?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2025\/10\/10\/day-of-ballots-and-bullets-anglophone-fears-ahead-of-cameroons-election\">Anglophone Cameroon fears \u2018a day of ballots and bullets\u2019 ahead of election<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/7\/26\/cameroon-bars-main-challenger-to-longtime-leader-from-presidential-race\">Cameroon bars main challenger to longtime leader from presidential race<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/7\/14\/cameroons-paul-biya-92-says-he-will-seek-eighth-presidential-term\">Cameroon\u2019s 92-year-old president seeks eighth term in office<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Biya, in power for 43 years, faces off against 11 challengers, including former government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary, 79, who has generated unexpected momentum for a campaign calling for an end to the leader\u2019s decades-long tenure.<\/p>\n<p>Bakary \u2013 a close ally of Biya for 20 years, who resigned from the government in June to join the opposition \u2013 is considered the top contender to unseat the incumbent after another leading opponent, Maurice Kamto, was barred from the race.<\/p>\n<p>But analysts predict Biya\u2019s re-election, given his firm grip on state machinery and a divided opposition.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"divide-to-rule\">\u2018Divide to rule\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be naive. We know full well the ruling system has ample means at its disposal to get results in its favour,\u201d Cameroonian political scientist Stephane Akoa told the AFP news agency, while noting that the campaign had been \u201cmuch livelier\u201d in recent days than previous versions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis poll is therefore more likely to throw up surprises,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Francois Conradie, lead political economist at Oxford Economics, told the Reuters news agency that while \u201ca surprise is still possible\u201d, \u201ca divided opposition and the backing of a formidable electoral machine will, we predict, give the 92-year-old his eighth term\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiya has remained in power for nearly 43 years by deftly dividing his adversaries, and, although we think he isn\u2019t very aware of what is going on, it seems that the machine he built will divide to rule one last time,\u201d Conradie said.<\/p>\n<p>Biya \u2013 who has won every election in the past 20 years by more than 70 percent of the ballot \u2013 ran a characteristically low-profile campaign, appearing in public only on Tuesday for the first time since May, AFP reported.<\/p>\n<p>His sole rally in Maroua, the regional capital of the strategic Far North region, drew a crowd of just a few hundred people, far smaller than a rally in the same city by Bakary this week, which drew thousands, AFP said.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"we-want-change\">\u2018We want change\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Cameroon is Central Africa\u2019s most diversified economy and a significant producer of oil and cocoa.<\/p>\n<p>But voters in a country where about four people in 10 live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank, complain about the high cost of living, high unemployment and a lack of clean water, healthcare and quality education.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor 43 years, Cameroonians have been suffering. There are no jobs,\u201d Hassane Djbril, a driver in the capital, Yaounde, told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>He said he planned to vote for Bakary. \u201cWe want change because the current government is dictatorial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Herves Mitterand, a mechanic in Douala, told Reuters that he wanted to see change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, things have only gotten worse,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to see that change, we want to see it actually happen. We don\u2019t want to just keep hearing words any more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The vote takes place in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2025\/10\/10\/day-of-ballots-and-bullets-anglophone-fears-ahead-of-cameroons-election\">shadow of a conflict<\/a> between separatist forces and the government that has plagued the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions since 2016.<\/p>\n<p>More than eight million people have registered to vote. The Constitutional Council has until October 26 to announce the final results.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Biya, the world\u2019s oldest serving head of state, is likely to extend his 43 years in power in the Central African nation. Polls have opened in Cameroon in an election that could see the world\u2019s oldest serving head of state extend his rule for another seven years. The single-round election on Sunday is likely to &#8230; <a title=\"Cameroon votes in presidential election as Paul Biya, 92, seeks eighth term\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/12\/cameroon-votes-in-presidential-election-as-paul-biya-92-seeks-eighth-term\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Cameroon votes in presidential election as Paul Biya, 92, seeks eighth term\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}