Cameroon’s Paul Biya, 92, Wins Eighth Term as World’s Oldest Serving Head of State

Cameroon’s veteran leader Paul Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state, has been officially declared the winner of the country’s latest presidential election, securing a new seven-year term that will keep him in power until nearly the age of 100.

The Constitutional Council announced on Monday that Biya received 53.66% of the vote in the October 12 election, while his main rival, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, garnered 35.19%.

Tchiroma, a former transport and communication minister who resigned from the government in June to contest the presidency, had declared himself the winner two days after polls closed, citing internal vote tallies that allegedly placed him ahead of Biya.

Tensions flared ahead of the official announcement, with at least four people killed in the coastal city of Douala on Sunday as opposition supporters defied protest bans and clashed with security forces, accusing authorities of vote-rigging.

Unrest continued into Monday, when Tchiroma claimed that two people were shot dead by snipers near his residence in the northern city of Garoua. A local journalist also told the BBC that “a number of people” were killed in clashes near the opposition leader’s home.

At 92 years old, Biya has ruled Cameroon since 1982, making him the world’s oldest leader and Africa’s second longest-serving head of state, after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Biya is only the second person to lead Cameroon since its independence from France in 1960.

He abolished presidential term limits in 2008, clearing the path for indefinite re-election.

In his post-election address, Biya thanked citizens for their confidence in his leadership and called for national unity.

“I am fully aware of the weight of the responsibility entrusted to me. My first thoughts are with those who have unnecessarily lost their lives, and with their families, as a result of the post-election violence,” Biya said.

Biya’s controversial eighth-term victory follows a campaign marred by mass candidate disqualifications and legal disputes. The final ballot listed only 12 candidates, down from an initial 83, after the Constitutional Council reportedly rejected ten petitions alleging electoral malpractice.

Voter turnout stood at 58% of the 8.2 million registered voters in the nation of 29 million, reflecting both strong engagement and growing political tension in one of Africa’s longest-running autocracies.

Source: RT