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Eleven candidates are challenging Cameroonian President Paul Biya in Sunday’s presidential election, with the opposition divided and unable to coalesce around a single contender.
The 92-year-old veteran, who has held power for 43 years, made his first public appearance of the campaign on Tuesday, just five days before voters head to the polls.
Among the crowded field, four candidates have drawn particular attention.
Issa Tchiroma Bakary, 79, a former employment minister and leader of the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC), recently left the ruling majority after more than two decades.
Bakary, nominated by a coalition of minority opposition parties and civil society groups under the banner Union for Change 2025, has held several well-attended rallies across the country. On the campaign trail in Cameroon’s English-speaking region, he apologised for previously “denying the existence of an Anglophone issue in this country.”
Bello Bouba Maigari, 78, who served as Biya’s first prime minister in 1982 and came third in the 1992 election, leads the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP).
He resigned as tourism minister in June, and two other candidates, Ateki Seta Caxton of the Liberal Alliance Party (PAL) and lawyer Akere Tabeng Muna of the Universe Party, have endorsed him and withdrawn from the race — though their names remain on the ballot.
Cabral Libii, 45, a long-standing critic of Biya, leads the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN). He came third in the 2018 presidential election and opted not to boycott the 2020 legislative polls, with his party securing five seats.
Maurice Kamto, 71, who was Biya’s main rival and runner-up in 2018, has had his candidacy rejected by the Constitutional Council. He has condemned the ruling as “arbitrary” and accused the authorities of orchestrating his exclusion.
Kamto, formerly leader of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC), founded a new party, the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM), in June.
Despite his exclusion, he has met with most of the other candidates and encouraged his supporters to vote “freely” rather than directing them to a particular choice.
The fragmented opposition faces an uphill battle against Biya, whose decades-long incumbency and entrenched political network have made him the clear favourite in an election widely criticised for its lack of transparency and fairness.
