{"id":253607,"date":"2025-10-12T18:41:52","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T22:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=253607"},"modified":"2025-10-12T18:41:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T22:41:54","slug":"cameroons-92-year-old-president-poised-for-eighth-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/cameroons-92-year-old-president-poised-for-eighth-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon\u2019s 92-year-old president poised for eighth term"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(AFP)\u2014Cameroonians voted Sunday in an election expected to return 92-year-old Paul Biya, the world\u2019s oldest serving head of state, to office after 43 years in power.<\/p>

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AFP journalists saw voters crowding outside polling stations during the day in the capital Yaounde before they closed in the early evening, with an electoral official declaring the ballot had gone \u201ccalmly\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biya faced 11 opponents, including former employment minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary, 79, who generated unexpected enthusiasm among voters in the central African nation, where half the population is under 20.<\/p>

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Most of the eight million Cameroonians who were eligible to vote in the one-round election had only known one ruler in their lifetime.<\/p>

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Biya has been in power since 1982 and has won every election in the past 20 years with more than 70 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing is certain. Let\u2019s wait until we know the name of the elected official,\u201d Biya told reporters after he cast his ballot in the Bastos neighbourhood, near the presidential palace.<\/p>

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Cameroonian political scientist Stephane Akoa told AFP: \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be naive. We know full well the ruling system has ample means at its disposal to get results in its favour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he said that the campaign in recent days had been \u201cmuch livelier\u201d than was usually the case at that stage and \u201cthis poll is therefore more likely to throw up surprises.\u201d<\/p>

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AFP reporters saw polling stations close at 1700 GMT. \u201cVoting passed off calmly,\u201d an official from the national electoral authority, Jean-Alain Andzongo, told AFP at a voting station in the capital.<\/p>

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(AFP)\u2014Cameroonians voted Sunday in an election expected to return 92-year-old Paul Biya, the world\u2019s oldest serving head of state, to office after 43 years in power. 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