92-year-old President of Cameroon re-elected for eighth term

The world's oldest president has been re-elected for an eighth term, the leader of Cameroon, Paul Biya, has been re-elected. This was reported by Bloomberg.

Biya was declared the winner of the October 12 election, marred by the disqualification of his main rival. He will rule the Central African country until the age of 99. This is his eighth term.

Biya, 92, won 53.7% of the vote, while his closest rival, Issa Chiroma Bakary, who resigned from the cabinet in June, won 35.2%, Constitutional Council Chairman Clement Atangana said Monday.

Biya, the world's oldest sitting president, ran under the banner of the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement. His inauguration will take place in the capital, Yaoundé, on November 6.

Only 12 out of 83 presidential candidates were allowed to run, prompting accusations from the opposition and human rights organizations that the elections were neither free nor fair. Maurice Kamto, the leader of the main opposition party that challenged Biya in the last election in 2018, was one of those excluded on the grounds that his party had fielded two candidates.

Biya has ruled Cameroon for 43 years, and most citizens, whose average age is 18, have never known another leader. His advanced age and infrequent public appearances have raised concerns about his health and raised questions about who would lead the country if he dies in office.

Biya practically did not campaign and in September spent more than a week in Switzerland, where he had previously sought medical care without giving any explanation.

His only rally took place on October 7. In a shaky voice, he promised to create jobs, develop entrepreneurship and improve security – key issues in a country where 40% of the population lives in poverty.

• In June, Ukrainian defenders captured two Cameroonians fighting on the side of the Russian army.
• The British newspaper The Telegraph has already written about how Russia lured an African to war by promising a job at a shampoo factory in Moscow. The story was about 36-year-old Jean Onana from Cameroon.