President Paul Biya, 92 years old and in power since 1982, was re-elected president for an eighth term in Cameroon with 53.66% of the votes, according to the official results proclaimed by the Constitutional Council this Monday, October 27.
The candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary came second with 35.19% of the votes, according to the institution, while this former minister claimed victory against the outgoing president after the vote on October 12 and called on Cameroonians to come out en masse to defend his victory.
Four people died on Sunday in the economic capital, Douala, during demonstrations in support of the opposition, according to the governor of the Littoral region. Security forces began by firing a burst of tear gas before firing “live bullets”, according to protesters interviewed by AFP.
The oldest active head of state in the world
Since last week, supporters of Issa Tchiroma, who by his own count received 54.8% of the vote compared to outgoing president Paul Biya’s 31.3%, have sporadically taken to the streets to claim victory in the presidential elections.
Most analysts expected Paul Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state, to win a new seven-year term in a system his critics accuse of having been locked in during his 43 years in power.
He is the second head of state to lead Cameroon since independence from France in 1960, and has governed by suppressing all opposition, surviving economic turmoil and a separatist conflict since 2016 in the country’s two English-speaking regions.
Source: BFM TV
