Cameroon’s long-serving President Paul Biya, aged 92 and currently the world’s oldest head of state, has officially announced he will seek an eighth term in the October 2025 presidential election—extending a rule that began in 1982. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, Biya said his decision followed “numerous and insistent” calls from Cameroonians both at home and abroad. “Rest assured that my determination to serve you matches the urgency of the challenges we face,” he added. The announcement, though widely anticipated, confirms Biya’s intention to extend his grip on power well into his late 90s. It comes amid growing domestic discontent over corruption, economic stagnation, and persistent security crises in the Anglophone regions and the Far North, where Boko Haram-linked insurgents continue to pose a threat.
Biya’s prolonged absences from the public eye in recent years have fueled speculation about his health and capacity to govern. A six-week disappearance in 2023 even sparked unfounded rumors of his death. His 2025 candidacy faces new political headwinds. Several key allies from the north—once instrumental to his electoral dominance—have broken ranks. Former Prime Minister Bello Bouba Maigari and ex-communications minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary have both exited the ruling coalition and declared their own presidential bids. Tchiroma recently said the government he served in had “broken public trust.”
Multiple opposition leaders, including 2018 runner-up Maurice Kamto, as well as Joshua Osih, Akere Muna, and Cabral Libii, have already confirmed their intention to contest the election. However, critics say the playing field remains heavily skewed, citing the 2018 polls, in which Biya officially won 71% of the vote despite widespread allegations of fraud and repression. Biya’s continued rule was made possible after he scrapped term limits in 2008. As leader of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), he has retained tight control over state institutions, electoral processes, and the media. His candidacy is strongly backed by party loyalists, who began campaigning for him last year.
Calls for democratic transition are intensifying both domestically and internationally, as critics warn that Biya’s extended tenure risks deepening political stagnation and instability in the Central African nation of 28 million people.
