CAMEROON’s President Paul Biya said Sunday that he would be seeking an eighth term in office in October’s elections in a bid to extend his nearly 43 years in power.
Biya, 92, posted the announcement on X in French and English.
“I am a candidate for the 12 October 2025 presidential election. Rest assured that my determination to serve you is commensurate with the serious challenges facing us,” he wrote.
“Together, there are no challenges we cannot meet. The best is still to come.”
Biya was already the de facto candidate of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), of which he is party leader.
But given his age, the president’s health and his capacity to govern have become the subject of debate.
Several longstanding supporters have appeared to distance themselves from him in recent months, and there have been two high-profile defections from Biya’s camp in recent weeks.
Employment minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary resigned from government in June to stand in the election for his Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC).
And former prime minister Bello Bouba Maigari, an ally of Biya’s for nearly 30 years, said he was standing for National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP).
Both Tchiroma’s and Maigari’s parties were longstanding allies of Biya’s CPDM, which has held power since independence in 1960.
Also in the running are Maurice Kamto, who came second in the 2018 presidential election and is Biya’s fiercest critic, and prominent opposition figure Cabral Libii from the Cameroonian Party for National Reconciliation (CPNR).
Candidates have until July 21 to declare that they intend to run for office.
But the opposition is deeply divided and is struggling to unite behind a single candidate, even though public opinion is critical of the government.
Cameroonians frequently complain about rampant youth unemployment, rising prices and poor public services.
In addition, violence occasionally erupts from separatists, especially in English-speaking regions of the mostly francophone country.