🔗 Share this article

This planet's most aged leader - nonagenarian Paul Biya - has assured Cameroon's voters "better days are ahead" as he aims for his eighth straight presidential term this weekend.

The 92-year-old has remained in power for over four decades - another 7-year term could see him rule for half a century reaching almost 100.

Campaign Controversies

He resisted widespread calls to step down and has been criticised for attending just one rally, devoting much of the political race on a week-and-a-half unofficial journey to Europe.

Criticism concerning his reliance on an computer-generated political commercial, as his rivals actively wooed constituents on the ground, saw him rush to the northern region on his return home.

Young Population and Unemployment

This indicates for the large portion of the population, Biya is the only president they experienced - over sixty percent of Cameroon's thirty million people are under the 25 years old.

Youthful political activist Marie Flore Mboussi urgently wants "new blood" as she thinks "longevity in power naturally results in a sort of inertia".

"With 43 years passed, the citizens are exhausted," she says.

Employment challenges for youth has become a notable issue of concern for the majority of the candidates competing in the vote.

Approximately forty percent of youthful Cameroonians aged from 15 to 35 years are jobless, with 23% of young graduates facing challenges in obtaining official jobs.

Opposition Candidates

Apart from youth unemployment, the voting procedure has also stirred dispute, especially with the exclusion of a political rival from the presidential race.

The disqualification, confirmed by the highest court, was generally denounced as a strategy to block any serious competition to the current leader.

12 contenders were authorized to compete for the presidency, including Issa Tchiroma Bakary and another former ally - each ex- Biya colleagues from the north of the nation.

Election Challenges

Within the nation's Anglophone Northwest and Southwest areas, where a protracted insurgency persists, an voting prohibition closure has been enforced, paralysing business activities, transport and schooling.

Insurgents who have imposed it have promised to attack people who casts a ballot.

Beginning in 2017, those working toward a separate nation have been clashing with official military.

The violence has to date resulted in at least 6k lives and forced approximately five hundred thousand residents from their houses.

Election Results

After Sunday's vote, the highest court has two weeks to announce the outcome.

The government official has already warned that no candidate is allowed to claim success beforehand.

"Individuals who will try to reveal findings of the presidential election or any self-proclaimed victory in violation of the laws of the country would have violated boundaries and must prepare to receive consequences commensurate to their offense."