African state’s opposition leader declares election victory
Cameroon’s opposition figure Issa Tchiroma Bakary has declared himself winner of the Central African country’s October 12 presidential election and called on longtime leader Paul Biya to concede defeat.
Tchiroma’s claim on Tuesday came ahead of official results, which the elections body ELECAM is expected to announce by October 26.
“The people have chosen and this choice must be respected… We ask the regime in place to prove its greatness and to honor the truth of the ballot box,” he said in a video message posted on Facebook.
Authorities had warned earlier that only the Constitutional Council can proclaim the winner and that any unilateral publication of results would constitute “high treason.”
According to ELECAM, eight million people registered to vote, and 13 candidates were on the presidential ballot.
Biya, 92, is seeking an eighth term after 43 years in power, making him one of the world’s oldest leaders and Africa’s second longest-serving head of state after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
The contest unfolded amid unresolved crises that have scarred Biya’s record. UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned in September of “growing restrictions on civic and democratic space” ahead of the poll. He said at least 53 opposition supporters were arrested in August outside the Constitutional Council in the capital, Yaounde, during appeal hearings against decisions by the electoral authority, on charges including unlawful assembly, rebellion, and incitement to revolt.
UN agencies report persistent insecurity in the Anglophone regions and say the rising cost of living is driving acute food shortages, while Boko Haram continues to attack villages in the far north.
Tchiroma, a former government spokesman and minister long seen as close to Biya, broke with the administration earlier this year and emerged as an opposition standard-bearer backed by a coalition pushing a transitional agenda. During his campaign, he pledged national reconciliation, and dialogue over the Anglophone situation.
In his address on Tuesday, Tchiroma said the election results “clearly sanction” Biya’s administration and mark “the beginning of a new era” in the country of 29 million.
