Cameroon will maintain presidential elections on Sunday, October 12, with the vote anticipated to go in favour of Africa’s second-longest-serving chief, Paul Biya, 92, who’s in search of an eighth time period.
The cocoa and oil-producing Central African nation has been beset by challenges lately, together with the rising price of meals, excessive price of youth unemployment, armed assaults within the far north and a secessionist battle within the nation’s southern Anglophone areas.
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Some 8.2 million individuals aged 20 and above are eligible to vote, though voter apathy is on the rise. Many individuals query the purpose of voting in a system they imagine is rigged in favour of the governing occasion.
Whereas opposition candidates are mounting challenges to Biya, who has held energy since 1982, analysts say the president is more likely to lengthen his rule for one more seven years, and presumably rule till he’s 100 years outdated.
Cameroon’s demographic is younger, with about 60 p.c of the 30 million inhabitants beneath the age of 25. Greater than half of the nation has by no means recognized a president apart from Biya.
French and English are the nationwide languages. Yaounde is the Cameroonian capital, whereas coastal Douala is the most important metropolis and most important seaport.
Right here’s what to know concerning the elections and Biya’s rule:
Who’s working?
There are 12 presidential candidates. The winner requires a easy majority to win the election. Notable candidates embrace:
- Paul Biya – The 92-year-old is the candidate most anticipated to win. He has been president since 1982, and was prime minister previous to that. He’s the chief of the ruling Cameroon Individuals’s Democratic Motion (RDPC), which enjoys the strongest help from voters throughout the nation. His largest rival, Maurice Kamto, who gained 14 p.c of the vote within the 2018 elections, has been barred from working, as a splinter group from the Manidem occasion in his alliance had already registered a candidate.
- Akere Muna – A barrister, 73-year-old Muna is working because the candidate for the Univers Get together. He’s a technocrat and has held senior positions on the African Growth Financial institution and Transparency Worldwide. He tried to run within the 2018 elections, however later withdrew his candidacy and as a substitute joined forces with Kamto beneath the Cameroon Renaissance Get together. Muna, nicknamed “Mr Clear” for his perceived transparency, is promising to finish corruption and put a cease to the Anglophone disaster.
- Cabral Libii – Journalist Libii, 45, is working as a candidate for the Cameroon Get together for Nationwide Reconciliation (PCRN). He has additionally promised to focus on corruption.
- Joshua Osih – The 56-year-old Anglophone politician is working for the Social Democratic Entrance occasion. Osih is campaigning to finish the violence within the area and to “liberate” Cameroon from Biya.
- Hermine Patricia Toimaino Ndam Njoya – A longtime parliamentarian and the mayor of Foumban, 56-year-old Njoya is barely the third lady ever to run in a Cameroonian presidential election. She is the candidate for the Democratic Union of Cameroon occasion.
- Bello Bouba Maigari – The 78-year-old candidate for the Nationwide Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP) is from the Far North area, which is suffering from violence and assaults by the armed group, Boko Haram. He was beforehand in Biya’s authorities for a very long time, however resigned as tourism minister a number of months in the past.
- Issa Tchiroma Bakary – One other member of the outdated guard, the 76-year-old is working as a candidate for the Entrance for the Nationwide Salvation of Cameroon. He was the employment minister between 2019 and June this yr, however is now promising to ship change. He has traversed Cameroon in energetic canvassing campaigns, promising to finish financial stagnation and safety crises.
What’s Biya’s legacy?
Underneath Biya’s rule, Cameroon has struggled with myriad challenges, together with power corruption and ensuing poor financial development, regardless of being wealthy in sources reminiscent of oil and cocoa.
The president, who has managed to clinch landslide wins in closely contested elections held each seven years, is famend for his absenteeism, as he reportedly spends prolonged intervals away from the nation. He and his entourage are sometimes away, on non-public or medical therapy journeys to Switzerland, with a media investigation in 2018 discovering that Biya had spent an estimated 1,645 days (almost 4 and a half years) within the European nation – excluding official visits – since being in energy.
Manu Lekunze, a lecturer in worldwide relations at Aberdeen College, informed Al Jazeera that Biya has managed to carry onto energy for thus lengthy via tactical management of his personal occasion – by utilizing a divide-and-rule method – in addition to inside opposition camps to discourage any main challengers.
Biya has additionally managed to cement full help from the navy to keep away from any danger of a coup, Lekunze mentioned, and makes use of state safety apparatuses to crack down on dissent or protests.
Cameroon’s feared gendarmerie responded forcefully to 2016 protests by attorneys and different professionals within the southern Anglophone areas, which have been protesting in opposition to an absence of alternatives for English audio system. Nonetheless, the violent response spurred a secessionist battle within the area that’s persevering with, and has seen lots of killed and 638,000 displaced, in response to a Human Rights Watch report in 2024.
“He believes he’s going to rule for all times,” Lekunze mentioned, including that Biya has the help of leaders of a number of ethnic teams, mixed with allegiance from his personal Beti-Sawa majority.
Biya made his first and presumably solely look within the election marketing campaign on Wednesday this week, when he appeared within the Far North area, the place the emergence of two new candidates seems to be splitting his normally comfy base.
Underneath Biya, opposition politicians have ceaselessly accused electoral authorities of colluding with the president to rig elections. In 2008, parliament voted to take away the restrict on the variety of phrases a president might serve.
Analysts say his absolute maintain on energy may result in instability when he ultimately goes.
“There are tensions inside his occasion round who might be president subsequent, and there are additionally growing ethnic tensions,” Lekunze mentioned, referring to how ethnic discourse has heightened variations within the election marketing campaign. “That’s a recipe for political instability,” he added.
What are the important thing points for this election?
Inflation
On paper, the World Financial institution mentioned gross home product was projected to develop by 3.5 p.c to three.9 p.c in 2025, up from 3.5 p.c in 2024, resulting from greater cocoa costs globally, greater cotton manufacturing and improved electrical energy for companies.
Nonetheless, analysts say authorities mismanagement and corruption are driving stagnation within the nation’s financial system.
Cameroonians complain bitterly about excessive meals and gasoline costs, particularly for the reason that COVID-19-induced recession.
Excessive transport prices from food-producing areas, in addition to battle, have disrupted provide chains and fuelled inflation.
In response to the World Financial institution, poverty discount has stagnated previously 20 years, with 23 p.c of the inhabitants now residing in excessive poverty.
Jobs
Whereas the official unemployment price is low at 3.8 p.c, in response to the World Financial institution, many younger individuals say they’re struggling to seek out jobs.
Insecurity and battle
Since 2015, armed assaults by Boko Haram have turn into increasingly more frequent within the Far North area of the nation.
Alongside this, there have been 9 years of secessionist battle within the two Anglophone areas of Northwest and Southwest Cameroon.
Within the affected areas, a couple of million individuals have been displaced in August, in response to the Famine Early Warning Programs Community (FEWSNET).
Cameroon can also be a vacation spot nation for refugees fleeing crises in Nigeria and the Central African Republic.
