After Ruling For 36 Years, 85-Year-Old Paul Biya Has Been Elected For A 7th Term As President Of Cameroon
Paul Biya
Cameroon's
President Paul Biya has won a seventh term in office in polls marred by low
turnout and voter intimidation.
Mr Biya, at
85 Africa's oldest head of state, was re-elected with 71.3% of the vote,
according to official results.
Opposition
calls for a re-run of the presidential election were rejected by the
Constitutional Council last week.
Riot police
were deployed on Sunday to the major cities of Yaoundé and Douala in case of
opposition protests.
Cameroon's
two English-speaking provinces have been hit by more than a year of violent
protests and attacks by separatist rebels which have left hundreds dead.
Two days
before results were announced, Africa's longest-serving President Teodoro
Obiang Nguema of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea congratulated Mr Biya on his
win.
Mr Biya's
nearest challenger, Maurice Kamto of the MRC/CRM, gained just 14.2%.
Across the
country, only half of Cameroon's voting-age population took part in the polls.
Tens of thousands of people were unable to cast their votes because of insecurity.
Threats of
violence made against would-be voters by rebels in the Anglophone regions
reportedly deterred many from casting their ballot.
Voter
turnout in the country's two Anglophone regions was as low as 5%, according to
the International Crisis Group. Official figures give an almost 16% turnout in
the English-speaking South-West region.
Witnesses
have told AFP news agency they heard gunfire on Monday morning in Buea, the
capital of the English-speaking South-West region.
Cameroon's
electoral body Elecam also reduced the overall number of polling stations
across the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions, and moved some others
from turbulent zones to more secure areas.
Up to 18
petitions for the election to be re-run were lodged by opposition members at
Cameroon's Constitutional Court, the body responsible for announcing the
results, before the results were announced.
Among those
calling for a fresh vote were President Biya's two main challengers - Mr Kamto
and Joshua Osih of the main opposition SDF/FSD.
Mr Kamto
went as far as declaring himself the winner of the polls despite producing no
evidence to prove this.
Election
observers from the African Union reported that the polls were "generally
peaceful" but added that "most parties were not represented
amongst the polling personnel".
The only
other group to send monitors was the International Organisation of La
Francophonie (OIF), whose head urged candidates and stakeholders to do their
part in preserving peace and use legal channels in any challenges to the
results (in French).
False claims
were made on Cameroon's state-owned television that Transparency International
had deployed international observers, forcing the Germany-based campaign group
to issue a statement denying them.
Cameroon's parliamentary
and legislative elections were due to take place at the same time as the 7
October presidential elections but have been postponed to 2019.
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