Cameroon opposition leader declares victory in presidential election

The Cameroonian opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary has declared himself the winner of the 12 October presidential election and called on the incumbent, Paul Biya, to accept the end of his 43-year rule.

“Our victory is clear, it must be respected,” Tchiroma said in a video statement on Facebook with the national flag in the background, before directly addressing 92-year-old Biya: “We call on the regime in power to show greatness and to honour the truth of the ballot box with a long-awaited gesture: that phone call of congratulations, which will demonstrate the political maturity of our nation and the future strength of our democracy.”

Elecam, the Cameroonian electoral commission, has yet to release the results, which are expected at the latest by 26 October, after validation by the constitutional council.

Supporters on both sides are claiming victory based on images circulating on social media of blackboards and papers tallying the results. While it is permitted to publish tally sheets from individual polling stations, it is illegal to announce the overall result of the vote before the constitutional council. “This is the red line that must not be crossed,” the territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, told a press conference on Sunday.

The election, contested by nine opposition candidates, was conducted in a single-round format where the candidate with the most votes wins. More than 8 million citizens were eligible to vote but the turnout remains unknown. Some of the other candidates have already congratulated Tchiroma.

A longtime Biya ally and former government spokesperson, Tchiroma, 76, broke ranks by resigning in June, and emerged as the leading opposition candidate. He heads the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC) and is backed by the Union for Change, a coalition of opposition parties.

“A country cannot exist in the service of one man,” Tchiroma wrote in an open letter announcing his candidacy. “It must live in the service of its people.”

In the 2018 presidential election, opposition challenger Maurice Kamto declared himself the winner the day after the vote. He was subsequently arrested. His supporters’ rallies were dispersed with teargas and water cannon and dozens were detained. Some are still in jail.

Biya is only the second head of state to lead Cameroon since independence from France in 1960. He has ruled with an iron fist, repressing all political and armed opposition, and holding on to power despite social upheaval, economic disparity and separatist violence.

Tchiroma’s election manifesto promised a transition period of three to five years to rebuild the country, which he said Biya had destroyed.

The incumbent has governed in absentia for years, partly from Switzerland, where he and his wife, Chantal, are regular visitors. There are reports that presidential decrees are regularly signed on Biya’s behalf by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the secretary general of the presidency.

Born in Garoua, in northern Cameroon, Tchiroma went from being imprisoned for his alleged involvement in a failed 1984 coup against Biya to being a minister. In one pre-election interview, Tchiroma said that in two decades as minister he had never met the president face-to-face.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report