By Boris Esono Nwenfor
Cameroon faces growing political uncertainty following the re-election of 92-year-old President Paul Biya, who has now secured an unprecedented eighth term in office. The election, widely contested, has sparked protests driven largely by the country’s young population demanding fairness, accountability, and transparency.
Analysts warn that the outcome highlights a worrying trend across Africa, where sidelined opposition voices and disputed elections are deepening public frustration and threatening fragile democracies.
In an interview with Nigeria’s Arise News, Dr Christopher Fomunyoh, Africa Director at the National Democratic Institute, expressed concern over the legitimacy of Biya’s victory. “It’s difficult to explain that a 93-year-old individual would be seeking to serve another seven years as president of a country where the median age is 19 years,” Dr Fomunyoh said.
“With all the controversy around that particular election, there’s a sizable segment of the Cameroonian population that believes, till this day, that Biya did not win the election.”
Fomunyoh noted that many Cameroonians believe opposition leader Issa Tchiroma may have received more votes than officially declared, leaving the nation at a critical juncture. He said, “I think the story of Cameroon’s election hasn’t ended quite yet. It’s difficult to see how Biya is going to get the legitimacy that he needs to be able to govern.”
“He (President Biya) has the track record, as we speak, of being the longest-serving president in the world. That’s most unfortunate. It’s not a record anyone should have.
“Biya has survived in power through the use of corruption, patronage networks, and through sheer brutality of instrumentalising the justice system, instrumentalising the security services to go after opposition to the point where a lot of the opposition leaders are either in jail or out of the country. In that kind of context, it’s difficult to consider it a democracy and to consider it open for diverse viewpoints to be heard,” Fomunyoh said.
Beyond electoral tensions, Cameroon continues to grapple with the Anglophone crisis in the North West and South West regions. Fomunyoh described the conflict as “one of the most underreported covert stories in the world,” affecting a marginalised 20 per cent of the population. “It’s been eight years in the running. The conflict has not been resolved. People are still dying, even as we speak. And Biya is no longer in the state, intellectually or even physically, to be able to handle the resolution of that conflict,” Dr Fomunyoh noted.
The country also faces security challenges in the North, with ongoing Boko Haram incursions into the Lake Chad Basin. The combination of post-election unrest, the Anglophone conflict, and extremist threats leaves Cameroon navigating multiple crises simultaneously.
Fomunyoh stressed the role of international actors in supporting Cameroon at this critical moment. “The international community doesn’t have to wait until this full-blown catastrophe to be able to then come in and try to either issue statements or salvage what is left. There’s still an opportunity for the international community to weigh in, and I think in the minds of most Cameroonians,” Dr Fomunyoh said.
“Whether you’re talking about the Anglophone conflict or you’re talking about the recent post-election contestation, many Cameroonians are really disappointed that the international community is not speaking out, is not able to talk in favour of truth and transparency, and has allowed Biya to get away with murder.”
