By Peter Omopo
October 27, 2025 | Yaoundé — Cameroon’s long-serving President Paul Biya, aged 92, has been declared winner of the country’s October 12 presidential election, securing a controversial eighth term in office with 53.7 percent of the vote, according to results announced by the Constitutional Council on Monday.
His closest challenger, former minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary, finished second with 35.2 percent, despite insisting last week that he had won the poll and calling for nationwide demonstrations to “defend the people’s choice.”
The declaration followed a tense weekend marked by violent protests in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital, where four people were killed in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces. Witnesses told AFP that officers initially fired tear gas before using live rounds to disperse crowds demanding that Biya step down.
Tchiroma’s supporters, claiming he won 54.8 percent of the vote based on their own tally, have taken to the streets in several cities over the past week. Many accuse the ruling party of electoral manipulation and intimidation in a contest they say was neither free nor fair.
Despite international observers expressing concerns about the transparency of the process, most analysts had predicted Biya’s re-election in what they describe as a tightly controlled political system that leaves little room for genuine competition.
Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, remains the world’s oldest serving head of state and only the second leader since the country’s independence from France in 1960.
Under his leadership, Cameroon has faced deepening political and economic challenges — from separatist unrest in the Anglophone regions to mounting social inequality and youth disillusionment.
As he begins yet another seven-year term, Biya’s government faces growing pressure at home and abroad to address calls for democratic reform, end political repression, and stabilize a nation long plagued by unrest.
