Cameroon’s opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma has declared victory in the country’s October 12 presidential election, calling on long-serving President Paul Biya to concede and “honour the truth of the ballot box.”
“Our victory is clear. It must be respected. The people have chosen, and this choice must be respected,”
Tchiroma said in a late Monday speech streamed on Facebook from his hometown of Garoua, in northern Cameroon.
The 77-year-old former government spokesperson and employment minister broke ranks with Biya earlier this year, rallying a broad coalition of opposition parties and civic groups during his campaign.
However, Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) dismissed Tchiroma’s self-declared victory as a “grotesque hoax,” insisting that only the Constitutional Council has the authority to announce official results.
“It is an inadmissible act in a state governed by the rule of law,” CPDM spokesperson Jacques Fame Ndongo said in a statement.
The Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, also condemned Tchiroma’s declaration, vowing to maintain public order and protect citizens throughout the electoral process.
At 92, Biya — the world’s oldest serving head of state — is seeking an eighth term after more than four decades in power. Despite public frustration over economic stagnation and insecurity, analysts had expected Biya’s control over state institutions to give him an edge in the race.
Tchiroma, meanwhile, praised voters for their resilience, saying many stayed late at polling stations to safeguard their ballots.
“This victory is not that of one man or one party. It is the victory of a people,” he said, adding that he would soon release region-by-region vote tallies based on publicly posted results.
He urged the military and security forces to remain loyal to the “republic, not the regime,” and warned that the government’s refusal to accept the people’s will could “plunge the country into turmoil.”
Under Cameroonian law, the Constitutional Council has until October 26 to declare the final results of the single-round election, in which more than 8 million voters were registered to participate.
