Cameroon’s Biya, 92, Announces Bid for Eighth Presidential Term

YAOUNDE, Reuters: Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state at 92, will run for re-election in this year’s presidential vote on October 12, a post on the president’s X account said on Sunday.

“I am a candidate in the presidential election. Rest assured that my determination to serve you matches the urgency of the challenges we face,” the post on the official account said.

Biya, who is seeking a new term that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100, came to power more than four decades ago in 1982, when his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo resigned.

His health is the subject of frequent speculation, most recently last year when he disappeared from public view for 42 days.

His re-election bid had been widely anticipated but not formally confirmed until Sunday’s social media post.

Biya had been posting regularly on his verified X handle in the buildup to the announcement.

In 2018, in a first, he also used social media to announce his candidacy for that year’s presidential contest, marking a rare direct engagement with the public on digital platforms.

Members of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) and other supporters have since last year publicly called for Biya to seek another term.

But opposition parties and some civil society groups argue his long rule has stifled economic and democratic development.

Two former allies have quit the ruling coalition and announced plans to separately run in the election.

HEALTH WORRIES

Sunday’s announcement is sure to revive debate over Biya’s fitness for office. He seldom makes public appearances, often delegating responsibilities to the powerful chief of staff of the president’s office.

Last October, he returned to Cameroon after a 42-day absence that sparked speculation he was unwell. The government claimed he was fine but banned any discussion of his health, saying it was a matter of national security.

Biya scrapped term limits in 2008, clearing the way for him to run indefinitely. He won the 2018 election with 71.28% of the vote, though opposition parties alleged widespread irregularities.

The cocoa- and oil-producing Central African nation, which has had just two presidents since independence from France and Britain in the early 1960s, is likely to face a messy succession crisis if Biya were to become too ill to remain in office or dies.

Besides Biya, several opposition figures have also declared their intention to run, including 2018 runner-up Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front, lawyer Akere Muna and Cabral Libii of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation.

All have criticized Biya’s long rule and called for reforms to ensure a fair vote in 2025.

Under Biya, Cameroon has faced economic challenges and insecurity on several fronts, including a drawn-out separatist conflict in its English-speaking regions and ongoing incursions from Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram in the north.