Paul Biya

Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, has officially announced his candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for October 2025. At 92 years old, Biya has been in power since 1982, making him one of the world’s longest-serving leaders. The announcement was made by Cavayé Yéguié Djibril, President of the National Assembly, who declared Biya as the candidate from the Far North region.

This electoral cycle may also be different in that 30 parties under Cameroon’s notoriously fractious opposition have agreed to coalesce around Maurice Kamto as head of the Alliance politique pour le changement (APC) coalition. Kamto is running on a campaign of extending health and education services and reducing the acute inequities in Cameroonian society. Kamto officially garnered 14 percent of the votes in the disputed 2018 presidential election. A unified opposition is vital in Cameroon’s single-round plurality system that favors the incumbent..

Context, Considerations, & Challenges

• Cameroon’s constitution places no age or term limits on presidential candidates, allowing Biya to seek an eighth consecutive term. With 10 other candidates already declaring their intention to run, the stage is set for a competitive election as the country prepares for its next chapter of leadership.
• The succession of President Paul Biya, now 91 years old and having ruled Cameroon for over 41 years, presents a significant challenge. The upcoming presidential election, scheduled for October 2025, is expected to take place amid ongoing power consolidation by the current regime.
• Lawmakers in Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement have a majority in the National Assembly and voted in favour of the bill to extend their mandate by a year to March 2026. As a result, legislative elections - and municipal elections usually twinned with them - will take place after the 2025 presidential poll.
• The delay was needed to "lighten the electoral calendar" as the central African nation originally had four polls - including regional council polls - scheduled for next year, said François Wakata Bolvine, the presidency's minister delegate in charge of relations with the assemblies..
• Biya, 91, is one of Africa's longest-serving presidents. He took over in 1982 from President Ahmadou Ahidjo and has won a series of elections, most recently a 2018 vote that his opponents called fraudulent.

The Constitution

Credibility will be a key theme for this year’s elections, with half of the planned polls shaping up to be highly orchestrated processes

YAOUNDE

• Cameroon is trying to register voters before the nearing deadline. But the political opposition and civil society say most qualified voters are reluctant to register because they think President Paul Biya plans to rig elections. Barely 50% of qualified civilians have registered for the election expected in October 2025..
• Cameroon's elections management body, ELECAM, says 7.9 million civilians have registered as voters ahead of the August 31 deadline set by the central African states electoral law..