Maurice Kamto excludes Cameroon’s election

Cameroon’s constitutional council upheld the country’s election body’s decision to exclude opposition leader Maurice Kamto from the October 12 presidential election.

While Firepower politicians were eliminated, the candidate for 92-year-old President Paul Biya also faced opposition, being cleared for his eighth term in the oil-rich Central African country.

If he was elected for another seven years, he could continue to rule until he was nearly 100 years old.

Kamto was excluded because a rival faction of Manidem Party recognized him as a candidate, highlighting the internal quarrel.

His exclusion sparked anger, and his lawyer described rejection of his petition as a political, rather than a legal move.

Of the 83 candidates who submitted applications to the electoral body, only 12 were approved.

The reason for the election Cameroon (EleCam) was to cancel 71 ranges, ranging from incomplete files, unpaid required deposits to multiple candidates in the same party.

Of all the contestants, six were considered as major competitors:

1. Paul pays

Paul Biya was the oldest head of state in the world at the age of 92. He has been in power for nearly 43 years since 1982. Biya led the ruling CPDM Party that ruled the political stage. Since his main rival, Kamto, is not on the side, he is widely regarded as the most popular.

The veteran politician has never lost elections since the return of multi-party politics in 1990. But his party and government have continually denied his party accusations and his victory was won.

Bia announced his intention to run, and he said his eighth mission will focus on the well-being of women and young people.

2. Bello Boosa Star

Bello Bouba Maigari, 78, is an experienced politician with a rich turnout from Cameroon.

He is the chairman of the National Alliance for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) Party, founded in 1990. He has served in two governments of the President of Cameroon – Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya.

In fact, he was the first Prime Minister of Bia between 1982 and 1983. Since 1997, Megali has formed an alliance with Bia’s CPDM party, helping the latter to get a large number of votes in the north.

However, the political marriage ended in June after pressure from an independent campaign within his party.

McGalli resigned while serving as Secretary of State for Tourism and Leisure and declared himself a candidate for Bia, who also faced in the 1992 presidential election.

3. IsaTchiroma Bakary

Another former Bia ally candidate was a surprise, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, 75. Like Megali, he comes from the north of the country and has influence in helping Biya get votes in the region.

After 20 years in different government roles, Tchiroma finally reached out to the time of the 92-year-old leader, resigning as Minister of Employment and Vocational Training to announce his candidacy.

Tchiroma, who heads the Cameroon National Salvation Front (CNSF) party, criticized Bia’s style of dominance and was dependent on his presidential bid to overhaul the system, which he described as “suffocating”.

4. CabralLibii

Cabral Libii, president of the Cameroonian National Reconciliation Party (PCRN), is a dynamic member of the parliament and is trying for the country’s highest job for the second time.

In 2018, he was the youngest of nine presidential candidates, aged only 38, ranking third with 6% of the vote.

PCRN founder Robert Kona has questioned Libii’s candidacy for this year’s general election, who objected to the legitimacy of lawmakers leading the party.

However, the Constitutional Council rejected Kona’s petition and upheld the decision of the electoral body to allow Libie to stand.

5. AcraeMuna

Akere Muna is a candidate for the 2018 presidential election but quits at the last minute and throws his weight behind Kamto. This time, Muna, a staunch international anti-corruption lawyer, said he wanted to challenge Bia himself.

The 72-year-old comes from a family of politicians – his late father, Solomon Tanden Muna, was the then vice-president of the Federal Republic of Cameroon and the Speaker of the National Assembly, served as prime minister of Western Cameroon after independence.

As Speaker, Solomon Muna swore in Biya when he took over as president after Ahmadou Ahidjo’s resignation.

Muna, who promises to get rid of corruption and bad governance in bilingual countries, said it has stained its image on the international stage.

6. JoshuaOsih

Joshua OSIH entered the presidential race for the second time after its first futile attempt in 2018.

He led the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party, inheriting the iconic opposition leader John Fru Ndi. The SDF was once the country’s main opposition costume, but its influence later decreased, intensified by infighting and expulsion in 2023.

Osih, 56, ranked fourth in the 2018 poll with a score of 3%, but hopes to beat Biya by committing to social and institutional reform.

For decades, President Biya has successfully maintained firm control of power, which makes it difficult for him to lose his election.

Political heavyweights Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary challenged him seem to make life more difficult, but some analysts believe they will not pose a major threat to Bia.

Dr Pippie Hugues, a policy analyst at the Cameroonian think tank NKAFU Policy Institute, believes their alliance with the current regime has reduced their credibility with opposition voters.

“The Cameroonians need not only resign to trust them,” he told the BBC. “Both are on the system, watching the country suffer.”

Dr. Hughes further suggested that the two northern candidates could be part of the political plot that the regime was staged.

But ruling party officials portray the rupture as real people, acknowledging that CPDM may try to get as many votes as they did from the North as before.

Given Kamto’s exclusion, Bia’s strongest challenger in 2018, third-place Libiy is arguably his main threat this year.

Although he received only 6% of the vote, Libyi’s politics has become praised since then.

In the 2020 legislative and municipal elections, he led the party to win five seats in parliament and seven local councils. Since becoming a member of parliament in the process, he has challenged the government on key policy issues, and promised a comprehensive change if he took over the power.

But Dr. Hughes said Libiy’s vision was opaque, citing Akere Muna as a more convincing candidate, a clearer project for nearly 30 million people in the country.

“Muna has a wealth of international experience and diplomatic characteristics, and that’s what the country needs,” he said. He praised the famous lawyer’s five-year transition plan for “putting the country back on track.”

Historically, Cameroon’s opposition was dispersed especially during the elections, which analysts say puts them at a disadvantage.

Before this year’s presidential election, there was already much discussion about opposition solidarity and coordination strategies to embrace Bia’s strategy. However, since each candidate prioritizes his own interests, it is not clear whether most (not to mention all) will work together, although this may help.

“If they don’t unite, it could be the end of their political career or party,” said civil society leader Felix Agbor Balla.

He told the BBC: “Camto and others have to look for people in the opposition, they have to put batons first, they have to put the country first, beyond the individual self to find a consensus candidate that can make the CPDM run on October 12.”

Dr. Holmes agreed that Kamto should use his influence to support the opposition league, as he has now withdrawn from the game.

He insisted: “Change must be (Kamto) (Kamto), but change can be achieved through him.”

He added that the opposition coalition was possible, referring to the meeting of opposition figures held in Forman Town, the western region, on August 2.

Michael Ekosso, president of the United Socialist Democratic Party (USDP), who attended the meeting, told the BBC that the purpose was to lay the foundation for “voluntary candidates.”

Although no specific candidate has been specified, the criteria for consideration have been considered.

“We want a person to have a body that they will respond to the desires of Cameroonians who have the flexibility to work with others, which is bilingual, able to mobilize other candidates and political actors,” Exeso said.

In the 1992 presidential election, firepower opposition leader John Fru Ndi was supported by a coalition of political parties and civil society organizations.

Although he is not the only opposition candidate, analysts say the league helped him get 36% of the vote and only 40% of Bibiya’s shyness.

That is the closest anyone to defeating Biya. Fru Ndi even claimed victory, but authorities rejected the charges of voting rigging and confirmed Biya as the winner.

Many believe that if the opposition did not have a band like it was in 1992, then Bia might have made it easy to go to the presidency.

“He has experience, human resources and systems have advantages,” Dr. Huyes said.