Cameroonian President Paul Biya took a step towards extending his decades-long rule late final month when his social gathering, the Cameroon Folks’s Democratic Motion, endorsed his bid to be its flagbearer within the nation’s subsequent presidential election. The announcement got here on the heels of a vote by Cameroon’s Nationwide Meeting to increase the mandate of serving lawmakers and push again the nation’s subsequent spherical of municipal and parliamentary elections to 2026, one 12 months later than the initially scheduled date.
The 91-year-old Biya, who has been president since 1982, has not publicly introduced his speedy plans however is broadly anticipated to hunt reelection within the subsequent presidential contest, which is scheduled for October 2025. If he does, there may be little doubt that he will probably be declared the winner, given his whole management of Cameroon’s political order and the historic precedent of the nation’s earlier presidential elections. In consequence, most observers count on the competition will probably be little greater than an instructional train.
However, some—together with Biya’s closest political allies—are taking a longer-term view of the political panorama, which is something however simple. Hypothesis about “life after Biya” has lengthy been rife in Cameroon however has turn into extra pronounced lately given his superior age and unwillingness to formulate a succession plan. Biya will probably be 92 if the vote is held as deliberate subsequent 12 months, and a presidential time period in Cameroon lasts for seven years, which means that he will probably be 99 years outdated when his eighth stint in workplace involves a detailed in 2032. However there’s a widespread, if subtly acknowledged, consensus that Biya is unlikely to see out a full seven-year time period. Accordingly, delicate however inescapable discussions a couple of post-Biya succession have turn into extra frequent and are taking over extra significance, each for Cameroon and the area, given the potential for political instability within the coming years.
