Cameroonian President Paul Biya
has won re-election by a landslide, the Constitutional Council said on Monday, extending his 36-year rule and cementing his place as one of Africa ’s longest-serving rulers.
Looming over his victory are opposition claims of voter fraud and a secessionist uprising in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions in which hundreds, including civilians, have died over the past year.
At 85, Biya is the oldest leader in sub-Saharan Africa and most Cameroonians have known only him as president.
He won 71% of the vote, giving him seven more years in power, but opposition candidates said the election was marred by ballot stuffing and intimidation . The Constitutional Council last week rejected all 18 petitions claiming fraud .
“The results were known beforehand. They do not reflect reality in Cameroon,” said Cabral Libii , an opposition candidate who came third with six percent.
Monday’s results showed turnout of 54%, with Biya winning strongly in nine of 10 regions. In the South and East regions, he took more than 90% of the vote. His closest rival, Maurice Kamto , won 14% overall.
“Thank you for your renewed and large confidence,” Biya said on Twitter . “Let us now join in taking up, together, the challenges that confront us.”
The announcement follows two weeks of tension in the coffee-and-oil-producing country where, despite economic growth above 4% a year since the last election, most people live in poverty. Kamto claimed victory for himself on October 8 based on his campaign’s figures.
In recent days, police silenced opposition marches in the port city of Douala , where Kamto is popular.
Authorities have defended the voting process. “The election was free, fair and credible in spite of the security challenges in the English-speaking regions,” the President of Constitutional Council , Clement Atangana , said on Monday.
The secessionist movement began in reaction to a government clampdown on peaceful protests calling for an end to the marginalization of Cameroon’s English-speaking minority . Police killed civilians, sparking further protests.
The army burned villages and killed unarmed civilians, forcing thousands to flee to French-speaking regions or neighboring Nigeria . Ghost towns are all that remain of once vibrant cities in those regions.
Turnout was 5% in the Northwest and 16% in the Southwest . In an area of 5 million English speakers, less than 100,000 voted.
Despite the unrest, and a desire among the young for change, the opposition appeared unable to mount a credible challenge to Biya who, despite long absences in Switzerland, has kept core support. He has also benefited from apathy from many who saw no point in voting .
The only current African president to have ruled longer than Biya is Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo .
sg