Cameroon’s electoral body, Elecam, has released final list of candidates qualified to contest the presidential election.
Eight other candidates were cleared to challenge the country’s President Paul Biya for the country’s top office.
In all nine people will run for president in the October’s election.
27 people had applied to contest in the presidential elections but the number was trimmed down to nine by the election body.
Local media reports that Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front and lawyer Akere Muna are those with better chance of challenging President Biya.
The candidates for the election are:
- Paul Biya (RDPC/CPDM)
- Garga Haman Adji (ADD)
- Maurice Kamto (MRC/CRM)
- Libi’i Li Ngue Ngue Cabril (Univers)
- Serge Espoir Matomba (PURS/UPSR)
- Muna Tabeng Akere (FPD/PFD)
- Ndam Njoya Adamou (UDC/CDU)
- Franklin Afanwi Ndifor (MCNC/CNCM)
- Joshua Osih (SDF/FSD)
Biya seeks to extend rule
President Biya is seeking to extend his current 36 year rule. The 85 year old is one of the longest serving leaders of an African country.
Biya came into power in 1982 when his predecessor then retired. He became president after serving as prime minister for seven years.
He supervised over the scraping of term limits from the Cameroon constitution in 2008.
List of candidates.
Candidats retenus par Elecam. #237vote #Crtv2018 pic.twitter.com/D8mRFkheQi— CRTVweb (@CRTV_web) August 7, 2018
That allows him to run again, a decision that sparked violence in the past.
The president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo who has been in power for 38 years is leading the chart.
Other longest serving African leaders include Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso (33 years), Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni (31years) and King Mswati III of Swaziland (31years).
Clashes with Citizens
President Biya has recently clashed with citizens of his country from the English-speaking regions.
There have been agitations with accusations that the Francophone majority is discriminating against them.
Their concerns range from not getting job opportunities and having legal systems solely in French language.
Those claims have been rejected by the government. There has been a crackdown on dissents with hundreds arrested.
Cameroon was colonised by Germany but was split into British and French areas after World War One.
Source: Africafeeds.com
