(Business in Cameroon) - On August 7, 2018, Elections Cameroon (Elecam), the public institution which organizes elections in  Cameroon, published the list of candidates retained for the presidential elections to be held on October 7, 2018.

Nine candidates were finally retained out of the 28 who submitted their candidature.

Among those candidates, there are three regular candidates. They are namely Paul Biya (photo), the outgoing president presented by the Rassemblement démocratique du peuple camerounais (RDPC) ; Garga Haman Adji, former minister of civil service presented by Alliance pour la démocratie et le développement (ADD) ; and Adamou Ndam Njoya, former minister of education who has been the president of Union démocratique du Cameroun (UDC) since 1991.

There are also emerging political figures such as Akéré Muna, the renowned lawyer and member of the civil society obviously against the current regime that it represented legally in many cases. There is also Maurice Kamto, a renowned scholar who resigned his position in the government to create Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun (MRC) and Joshua Osih, a deputy and vice-president of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), who is replacing, for the first time, Ni John Fru Ndi as the leading opposition party’s candidate.

On the list, there are two young candidates who revealed themselves via their positions during political debates in the country. They are namely Cabral Libii, a young law doctorate adopted by Union nationale pour l’intégration vers la solidarité (UNIVERS), and Serge Espoir Matomba presented by Peuple uni pour la rénovation sociale (PURS).

Finally, there is Ndifor Afanwi Franklin, a complete stranger, presented by Mouvement citoyen national camerounais (MCNC).

According to the statement published by Elecam, 28 submissions were sent but only 27 were reviewed because the 28^th  candidate decided to support the RDPC. Eighteen submissions were thus rejected for various reasons.

Under Cameroon’s legislation, the rejected candidates who deem that they have been unjustly rejected can present their griefs to the constitutional council within two days after the list is published.

BRM