By Joe Udo
YAOUNDE (CONVERSEER) – Cameroonian opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary has proclaimed himself the winner of the 12 October presidential election, calling on President Paul Biya to concede defeat and bring an end to more than four decades of his rule.
“Our victory is clear, it must be respected,” Tchiroma said in a video statement posted on Facebook, with the national flag behind him. Directly addressing 92-year-old Biya, he urged, “We call on the regime in power to show greatness and to honour the truth of the ballot box with a long-awaited gesture: that phone call of congratulations, which will demonstrate the political maturity of our nation and the future strength of our democracy.”
The official election results have not yet been released by Cameroon’s electoral commission, Elecam. Under the law, results must be published no later than 26 October after validation by the constitutional council. Despite this, both Tchiroma’s supporters and those of Biya are claiming victory, with images of tally sheets from polling stations circulating widely on social media.
While it is legal to share results from individual polling stations, the government has warned that announcing nationwide results before the constitutional council’s declaration is prohibited. “This is the red line that must not be crossed,” Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji told reporters at a press conference on Sunday.
The 2025 election was a single-round contest involving nine opposition candidates. More than eight million Cameroonians were eligible to vote, but the turnout figure is yet to be announced. Several opposition contenders have already congratulated Tchiroma on his claimed victory.
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Tchiroma, 76, once a close ally of Biya, resigned from government in June and became the leading opposition candidate. He leads the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC), backed by the Union for Change, a coalition of opposition parties. “A country cannot exist in the service of one man. It must live in the service of its people,” he wrote in an open letter declaring his candidacy.
This is not the first time Cameroon has witnessed a premature victory declaration. In 2018, opposition candidate Maurice Kamto announced he had won a day after the vote, leading to his arrest and a violent crackdown on his supporters. Many were detained, and some remain imprisoned.
Biya, who came to power in 1982, is Cameroon’s second head of state since independence from France in 1960. His rule has been marked by tight political control, suppression of dissent, economic inequality, and a protracted separatist conflict in the country’s anglophone regions.
Tchiroma’s campaign focused on national reconstruction, proposing a three-to-five-year transitional period to rebuild institutions, address economic disparities, and restore stability.
The president has spent long stretches abroad in recent years, with Switzerland becoming a frequent base. Reports suggest that presidential decrees are often signed on Biya’s behalf by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the secretary general of the presidency.
Born in Garoua, northern Cameroon, Tchiroma was once imprisoned for alleged involvement in a failed 1984 coup against Biya, before later joining his government as a minister. Remarkably, he once stated that in two decades of service, he never met Biya face-to-face.
The coming weeks will be crucial as the constitutional council reviews the results and determines the official winner. Tensions are expected to rise if the declaration contradicts Tchiroma’s claim, amid fears of unrest in a nation already facing deep political divisions.
