Meet 92-Year-Old Paul Biya, Re-Elected As Cameroon’s President After 43 Years In Power

Cameroon’s 92-year-old President Paul Biya has been declared the winner of heavily disputed elections by the Constitutional Council

He got 53.7% of the vote compared to the 35.2% of his main challenger, Issa Tchiroma Bakary

Biya, who is the world’s oldest head of state, will now serve an eighth consecutive term – he first came to power in 1982

He has thanked people for backing him again and looked towards building “a peaceful, united and prosperous Cameroon”

Tchiroma Bakary had earlier claimed victory, saying the Constitutional Council will announce a tainted result

He says snipers have opened fire outside his home in the city of Garoua, with reports of two people killed

There have been protests in the economic centre, Douala, and most shops and schools in the capital, Yaoundé, have been shut because of fears of unrest

The re-elected Paul Biya is Africa’s oldest head of state and the continent’s second-longest-serving, narrowly beaten to that record by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea.

Rarely seen in public, he is known for spending stints outside Africa in Swiss hotels, and these long absences, coupled with his advanced age, led to rumours he had died.

Biya came to power in 1982, elbowing aside his patron and predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo, promising liberal reforms before entrenching his hold on the presidency.

Since one narrow election victory back in 1992, President Biya has shrugged off subsequent political challenges, helped perhaps by the manipulation of the polls and certainly by the divisions among often tactically inept opponents.

Praise for Biya includes the expansion of schools and public universities during his time in office, and his handling of the Bakassi dispute, which saw the oil-rich peninsula handed to Cameroon instead of Nigeria.

But, under his aegis, Cameroon is almost a decade deep into a violent separatist insurgency in the English-speaking west, unemployment stands at 40% for the under-35s, roads and hospitals are crumbling, and freedom of speech is more a notion than a reality, externally.

Although 10 candidates ran for Cameroon’s top job, Biya, who has never lost an election, was considered a shoo-in.

Biya has held on to his title as the world’s oldest serving head of state.

The 92-year-old defied widespread calls to step down and has been criticized for only showing up for one campaign rally, where he promised voters that “the best is still to come”.

Having already been in power since 1982, another seven-year mandate could see him rule for 50 years.

By 2032, he’ll be almost 100 years old.

His election victories have been marred by allegations of vote-rigging – claims which his party and the government have continuously denied.

Paul Biya, the world’s oldest president, wins with a 53.66% share of the vote.

The runner-up is Issa Tchrioma Bakary on 35.19%

The Constitutional Council announces that President Paul Biya, 92, wins an eighth term.

Having first come to power in 1982, the result means that he can now govern until 2032.

AFP