President Biya is the world’s oldest serving head of state and will keep in workplace till he’s practically 100 if he wins the October election.
Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, who’s 92 years previous, has introduced plans to run for an eighth time period on this 12 months’s presidential election on October 12.
Biya, who’s the world’s oldest serving head of state, made the announcement in posts on X on Sunday in each French and English.
“I’m a candidate within the presidential election,” he wrote. “Relaxation assured that my dedication to serve you matches the urgency of the challenges we face.”
Biya, who’s looking for a brand new time period that might preserve him in workplace till he’s practically 100, got here to energy greater than 4 a long time in the past in 1982, when his predecessor, Ahmadou Ahidjo, resigned.
His well being is the topic of frequent hypothesis, most not too long ago final 12 months when he disappeared from public view for 42 days. His re-election bid had been extensively anticipated however not formally confirmed till Sunday’s social media put up.
Biya had been posting recurrently on his verified X deal with within the buildup to the announcement.
In 2018, in a primary, he additionally used social media to announce his candidacy for that 12 months’s presidential contest, marking a uncommon direct engagement with the general public on digital platforms.
Members of the governing Cameroon Folks’s Democratic Motion (CPDM) and different supporters have since final 12 months publicly referred to as for Biya to hunt one other time period.
However opposition events and a few civil society teams argue his lengthy rule has stifled financial and democratic growth. Two former allies have give up the governing coalition and introduced plans to individually run within the election.
“President Biya’s announcement to run once more is a transparent signal of Cameroon’s stalled political transition. After over 40 years in energy, what the nation wants is renewal – not repetition. Cameroonians deserve democratic change and accountable management,” Nkongho Felix Agbor, a human rights advocate and lawyer, informed The Related Press information company.
Sunday’s announcement is certain to revive debate over Biya’s health for workplace. He seldom makes public appearances, typically delegating duties to the highly effective chief of employees of the president’s workplace.
Final October, he returned to Cameroon after a 42-day absence, which had sparked hypothesis he was unwell. The federal government claimed he was advantageous however banned any dialogue of his well being, saying it was a matter of nationwide safety.
Biya scrapped time period limits in 2008, clearing the best way for him to run indefinitely. He received the 2018 election with 71.28 p.c of the vote, although opposition events alleged widespread irregularities.
The cocoa- and oil-producing Central African nation, which has had simply two presidents since independence from France and the UK within the early Nineteen Sixties, is more likely to face a messy succession disaster if Biya have been to turn into too sick to stay in workplace or die.
Apart from Biya, a number of opposition figures have additionally declared their intention to run, together with 2018 runner-up Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Motion, Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Entrance, lawyer Akere Muna and Cabral Libii of the Cameroon Occasion for Nationwide Reconciliation.
All have criticised Biya’s lengthy interval as head of state and referred to as for reforms to make sure a good vote in 2025.
Below Biya, Cameroon has confronted financial challenges and insecurity on a number of fronts, together with a drawn-out separatist battle in its English-speaking areas and ongoing incursions from the Boko Haram armed group within the north.
