Across Cameroon, October 12, 2025 is an important day for 8 million registered voters and for the country itself as they head to vote and are monitored by thousands of troops. President Paul Biya, world’s oldest sitting head of state at 92 years, and president of Cameroon for 43 years, is campaigning for an unprecedented eighth seven-year consecutive term in an election that is tinged with economic distress, demands for a different government, and worries about violence.
Voting Amidst Security and Uncertainty
Turnout seemed decent with people lined up to vote even with a heightened presence of police and troops in both Yaoundé and places that are dealing with conflict. The authorities sent down a second wave of forces to the Anglophone in the northwest and southwest, and the administration made efforts to facilitate the administration of polling, even amidst lockdowns and aggressive unrest. In some English towns, there were polling stations that were not open due to the ongoing protests by separatists who are calling for an independent state, and in others, there was a polling station in the town, but limited movement and police were used in an effort to protect civilians and some semblance of government law and order, highlighting the continued deeply divided political landscape in Cameroon.
Amongst the eligible voters was approximately 34, 000 Cameroonians living abroad, perhaps a sign of optimism, but also a further illustration of the ongoing mass migration from the country due to instability. Voting will end at 6 p.m. and results are to be expected anywhere from one week to two weeks. A feeling a quiet anticipation filled the air as voters enter polling locations and supporters of both the ruling party and the support of the opposition candidates made final pleas for an air of calmness and faith in the voting process.
The Candidates: Biya, Old Allies, and Barred Challengers
The 2025 race includes ten official candidates which includes the formidable Paul Biya of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM). Since becoming president in 1982, Biya has never lost a round candidate, again, via a sprawling patronage system individual benefiting from an elite class of access to resources, and Biya has continued to use the divide and rule strategy for decades. The closest opponent and major challenger to Biya is Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who recently has been the rally of the divided fractitious and fractured opposition, which are mostly composed of younger voters and democratic and civic activist who have converged on Tchiroma Bakary as the opposition leader only in the last few years, calling out Biya’s governance and patently different from the status quo.
Notably absent from the election, is Maurice Kamto from the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, who has long been considered Biya’s greatest opponent for the presidency, and Kamto was barred with “legal basis” which has compounded that frustration and is a further fracture to coalitions. Overall, Biya holds a significant substrate advantage over challengers.
The single round election is winner takes all, with no runoff meaning Biya can gain another term on a plurality, not an absolute majority.
Election Campaigns: Old Guard vs. Calls for Change
This campaign season has been more active than in previous electoral experiences. Biya took a ten-day trip at the beginning of the campaign period, but his trip was cut short due to external pressure. Biya returned and made a public spectacle in Maroua, a key electoral city, where he made a plea to women and youth to support his effort to revive development projects and job opportunities.
Biya’s release of an AI-generated campaign video was one of those significant moments that received pushback from audiences and raised questions about how present and engaged he is with the grassroots. His youngest supporters, most of the population and a leading voter demographic, are now publicly calling for “young blood,” stating decades of ruling have only resulted in governance that fails to bring them prosperity and representation.
Meanwhile, opposition candidates have attempted ground-up mobilization through meetings, rallies, and town hall meetings often even in blatant disregard of government regulations and targeted sabotage. Take Tchiroma Bakary’s team of mobilizers, for example. Tchiroma’s campaign drew thousands of supporters to Yaoundé and Douala, where they vocalized their support for change and democracy, while also condemning corruption.
Security: A Nation on Edge
Violence looms large on Election Day in Cameroon. Over 15% of eligible voters in Anglophone regions are vulnerable to exclusion due to rebel threats, government counter-insurgency, and the displacement of mass relatives. Meanwhile, in the Far North, cuts to voting time constraints and terror attacks, as well as continued flooding, are blocking access to the ballot box. Likewise, in Yaoundé and Douala, tensions are still high on the streets between security and opposition supporters, although major protests have yet to seen.
Civil society and religious groups are calling for nonviolence in urgent appeals. Observers are present internationally to assure and monitor transparency in each location while keeping an eye on the process for any misconduct.
Youth, Dissatisfaction, and Economic Stagnation
With nearly 30 million citizens, and the majority of these citizens being under 35, Cameroon’s population presents an increasingly vexatious political wild card. Many of these young people grew up under the Biya government and now face pervasive unemployment, economic stagnation, sporadic unrest, and restricted access to political life. Some young people are now publicly questioning the legitimacy and direction of the future of a country led by a nonagenarian (Biya) who continuously delegates roles to elites, family members, and party figures.
Young first-time voters like Gabriel expressed a desire for connection: “We want a leader who is close to us, someone who will connect with the people.” He shared with the BBC. Others voiced cautious optimism that the polls would change the course of Cameroon or, at minimum to put a pulse of the impending future.
Systemic Challenges and Global Stakes
Cameroon’s elections will take place amid myriad strains: economic malaise, the migrant and unresolved Anglophone crisis, restricted operating space of political opposition groups, and succession planning from the internal structure of the CMDP elite class. Civil society, and some former allies within the north of the country, have even called for Biya to step aside, warning of what could be a succession crisis that would open civil order to the risks of tyranny of the majority.
Cameroon’s importance to global businesses being located specifically to Nigeria grappling with significant economic depth and resources and having significant cocoa and crude oil production that global humanitarian organization have an interest in—is more at stake than Cameroon itself.
Looking Ahead: Results and Repercussions
As the ballots are processed, and Cameroon awaits results, most observers anticipate Biya’s eighth term, but there can be possibility “unexpected results” according to the other Francois Conradie lead economist, in this article, based on Biya’s “exquisite practice of separating interests of opposition. ” I will expect this to be the seventh elections apparatus of the CPDM against the backdrop of more and more activists, young people, and disaffection from societal or institutional conditions calling for radical reform.
Regardless of Biya’s hold on power, or the formation of new coalitions, Election Day 2025 will profoundly test the stability and credibility of Cameroon as an African Nation of the modern world.
