By Tata Mbunwe
Hours after presidential candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary declared victory in the October 12 election, the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, has countered the claim, promising that Tchiroma “will be dealt with rigorously and firmly when the time comes”.
In a statement released this Tuesday, Atanga Nji, whose Ministry supervises elections in Cameroon, says Tchiroma had representation in just half of the country’s over 31,000 polling stations and cannot claim victory.
Earlier in the day, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the presidential candidate of the FSNC party, said he had won the election, urging incumbent President Paul Biya, in power for 42 years, to concede.
“The irresponsible and arrogant attitude of candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary will be dealt with rigorously and firmly when the time comes,” said Atanga Nji, who had earlier warned candidates against “premature” victory claims.
“This corrupt candidate should remember that before him, some candidates had committed similar acts during the 1992 and 2018 elections without achieving their goals. His attempt to create disorder in our dear and beautiful country is doomed to total failure,” he wrote.
Election trends from polling stations reported on social media have shown Issa Tchiroma leading Paul Biya, the world’s oldest Head of State, by wide margins.
However, the official results will only be declared by the Constitutional Council, after they have been collated and submitted by Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), a process that could stretch several days.
The government thinks Tchiroma’s early victory claims could spark nationwide protests if the final verdict does not reflect his claim.
Atanga Nji claimed Tchiroma “seeks to disrupt the electoral process” with his victory declaration, which he said is aimed at “setting Cameroon ablaze”.
He also claimed Issa Tchiroma was “unable to have himself represented in half of the polling stations across the national territory”.
However, in his televised statement on Tuesday morning, Tchiroma said his team was collating result sheets obtained from polling stations around the country.
At the moment, vote counting is underway at the local level after which results will be transmitted to the national headquarters of Elections Cameroon in Yaounde for a final count by the national vote counting commission, which constitutes representatives of all 12 presidential candidates.
The Electoral Code gives the Constitutional Council 15 days from the closing of the polls to declare the results.
“The composition of the National Commission for the General Vote Count will be confirmed shortly by the ELECAM Electoral Council in accordance with the texts in force and will immediately begin work. At the end of its work, the Commission will submit its report to the Constitutional Council, the only body authorized to determine and proclaim the results of the presidential election of October 12, 2025,” Paul Atanga Nji wrote.
“Public order will be ensured, maintained, and strengthened throughout the national territory so that the electoral process can be conducted peacefully to its conclusion,” he said.
Meanwhile, Issa Tchiroma’s victory announcement has drawn wide national and international media attention.
In a country where allegations of vote rigging are not new, there have been calls from other opposition candidates and the Cameroon Bar Association for ELECAM and the Constitutional Council to respect the people’s will.
However concerns remain that President Paul Biya, who is seeking his eighth mandate at the age of 92, is not ready to leave and could do all it takes to serve another seven-year term.
