Yaoundé, Cameroon — A heavy security presence patrolled Yaoundé and other cities on Monday, a day after post-election unrest, with spent tear-gas canisters strewn across streets following clashes between protesters and security forces.
The elections management body and the Constitutional Council have not released results from the October 12 presidential poll. An official outcome is expected by October 26 at the latest, authorities said.
Despite the pending tally, former government spokesman and employment minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary declared himself the winner in a video posted to Facebook, asserting that “our victory is clear, it must be respected.” He pledged to publish a region-by-region breakdown of votes in the coming days. Tchiroma, now in his late 70s, left President Paul Biya’s government last year to mount his presidential bid and drew large crowds with backing from a coalition of opposition parties and civic groups.
Analysts had widely forecast a Biya victory, citing the opposition’s fragmentation and the August disqualification of one of his strongest rivals. Eleven opposition candidates ultimately appeared on the ballot.
Biya, 92, Africa’s and the world’s oldest sitting president, has ruled since 1982, making him Cameroon’s second leader since independence from France in 1960. His decades in power have coincided with a deadly separatist conflict in the country’s English-speaking west and persistent corruption that critics say has blunted development despite significant natural resources.
Cameroon has a history of contested results. After the 2018 presidential vote, opposition leader Maurice Kamto claimed victory before official results were announced; he was later arrested, sparking protests and the detention of dozens of his supporters.
With tensions high and competing claims already emerging, attention now shifts to the official tabulation and the Constitutional Council’s final proclamation, which will determine whether Cameroon enters another turbulent post-election period or moves toward a managed transition.
