“(Business in Cameroon) - I will be your candidate for the coming presidential election”. This is the tweet posted by Paul Biya (photo), Cameroon’s president who is just finishing his seven-year term, on July 13, 2018, to announce that he is willing to participate in the upcoming election which will be held on October 7, 2018.
“Dear Compatriots of Cameroon and of the diaspora, conscious of the challenges we will have to face together for a more united, stable and successful Cameroon, I agree to answer favorably to your pressing calls”, the tweet read. This announcement puts an end to the debates around a candidature which was just a hypothesis (but a major one). During this election, the president who has held this position since 1982 expects to win against candidates of the opposition such as Akere Muna, Maurice Kamto, Joshua Osih, Cabral Libi’i…
All those actors have up to July 19, 2018, to submit their candidatures to Elections Cameroon (Elecam), the institution in charge of the organization of elections in Cameroon. Around August 8, 2018, Elecam will publish the candidate list and the electoral campaign will kick off on September 24.
Sylvain Andzongo