The President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, in power since 1982, was re-elected for an eighth term with 53.66% of the votes, according to the official results announced this Monday (27 October) by the Constitutional Council.
Former minister and opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma came in second with 35.19% of the vote, according to the institution.
Issa Tchiroma, however, claims victory over the incumbent President after the October 12 elections.
“Our victory is clear” and “must be respected”, wrote Issa Tchiroma, demanding that Biya accept “the truth at the polls”, otherwise he would “plunge the country into chaos” because “the people chose and that choice must be respected”.
On Sunday, four people died in the economic capital, Douala, during demonstrations in support of the opponent, according to the governor of the coastal region.
The security forces began by launching tear gas before firing “real bullets”, protesters told the France-Presse news agency (AFP).
Since last week, supporters of Issa Tchiroma, who according to his own count obtained 54.8% of the votes against 31.3% for Biya, have sporadically taken to the streets to claim victory in the presidential elections.
In 2018, in the last presidential elections in Cameroon, Maurice Kamto, the main leader of the Cameroonian opposition, who came second in the vote and whose candidacy was rejected this year, proclaimed himself the winner the following day, although the legislation does not allow the results to be published before the Constitutional Council makes its decision.
Seven years ago, Kamto was detained and demonstrations by his supporters were dispersed with tear gas and water cannons. Dozens of protesters remain arrested today.
Most experts expected Paul Biya to win a new seven-year term, in a system that his detractors accuse of having blocked throughout his 43 years in power.
Paul Biya, aged 92, is the oldest head of state in the world and the second longest-serving in power in Africa, after his counterpart from Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang.
During the decades of Paul Biya’s rule, the Central African nation of almost 30 million inhabitants faced challenges ranging from a secessionist movement to corruption that conditioned the country’s development, despite rich natural resources, such as oil and minerals.
Since 2016, the central African country has faced a conflict against separatists in the English-speaking regions of the northwest and southwest, who are repressed by the government. Cameroon is also threatened by extremist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islam and Muslim Support Group.
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