Yaoundé, Cameroon – October 13, 2025: Unverified early reports from Cameroon’s presidential election suggest opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary may be making inroads in areas traditionally dominated by incumbent President Paul Biya, though official results remain pending from the Constitutional Council.
Biya, who is 92 years old, faced nine challengers in the October 12 election, including former allies Bello Bouba Maigari, a former Minister of Tourism, and Bakary, who served as Minister of Employment and Vocational Training until June 2025. The election uses a single-round, first-past-the-post system where the candidate with the most votes wins without requiring a majority.
According to unconfirmed reports from various media outlets, Bakary’s Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC) appears to be gaining ground against Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) in some areas. However, these claims cannot be independently verified as official vote counting is still underway.
Anonymous sources cited in some reports claim Bakary, who was born in Garoua in the Far North Region on September 10, 1946 (making him 79 years old), was leading in multiple polling stations across Yaoundé’s commune provinces. These same sources suggest he has outperformed Bello Bouba Maigari in their shared northern region.
Regarding diaspora voting, unconfirmed reports indicate Bakary may have won majority support from Cameroonian voters at embassies worldwide, with Moscow being cited as an exception. However, no official diaspora voting results have been released by electoral authorities.
The election results must be validated by Cameroon’s Constitutional Council, which has 15 days from the election date to announce official results. The Constitutional Council consists of eleven members, all appointed by President Biya, with Clement Atangana serving as president since 2018.
This institutional arrangement has drawn criticism from opposition parties and civil society groups who question the Council’s independence. Atangana faced particular scrutiny during the 2018 election when opposition lawyers noted that his wife serves as a CPDM parliamentarian, though he denied any bias.
The broader electoral framework also faces credibility challenges. Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), the body responsible for organizing elections, has been criticized for alleged pro-CPDM bias due to the dominance of presidential appointees in its composition. President Biya appointed new ELECAM board members in December 2024, just months before the election.
Biya, born on February 13, 1933, has been in power since 1982 when he succeeded Ahmadou Ahidjo. If he wins another seven-year term, he would be 99 years old when it concludes. His lengthy tenure has been marked by economic challenges, high youth unemployment rates approaching 40 percent, and ongoing security issues in the English-speaking regions.
The election took place against the backdrop of the Anglophone crisis, where separatist groups in the Northwest and Southwest regions have maintained their boycott of electoral processes. Low voter turnout was reported in these regions due to security concerns and separatist threats.
Bakary, who served in various ministerial positions under Biya for over two decades, dramatically resigned from the government in June 2025, citing disillusionment with “one-man rule” and the centralization of power. His defection, along with that of other former Biya allies, has created unusual dynamics in what was previously a predictable electoral process.
As vote counting continues across the country’s polling stations, the key question remains whether Cameroon’s electoral institutions will ensure transparency or maintain the status quo that has characterized previous elections since the return to multiparty democracy in 1992.
