By Tata Mbunwe
Presidential elections in Cameroon will take place on Sunday, October 12, 2025, President Paul Biya has announced in a decree read on national radio this evening.
According to Cameroon’s Electoral Code, aspirants have less than two weeks from the date the President convenes the electorate to declare their candidacies.
It remains unclear whether 92-year-old President Paul Biya, who has ruled for over four decades, will seek re-election. However, about 30 candidates have already declared their intentions to contest.
On the sidelines, government officials have been preparing for Biya’s potential campaign, with Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary General at the Presidency, holding a series of consultations last week with ministers and parliamentarians of the ruling party to map out strategies for Biya’s re-election.
Despite these preparations, uncertainty lingers over Biya’s candidacy. Communication Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi recently stated that the president’s candidacy remains tentative.
The ruling party also faces internal fractures, with two militants having declared their intentions to challenge Biya at the election.
They argue that Biya has no legal grounds to represent the CPDM at the upcoming election, since a Congress has not been held to renew his five-year mandate as party chairman.
Among the declared contestants is popular opposition leader Maurice Kamto, chairman of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) party.
Kamto, who finished second in the 2018 presidential election, fiercely contested the results at the time, claiming they were rigged to give Biya another mandate.
Although Kamto has maintained his intention to run, the law currently bars his party from fielding a candidate because the CRM has no seats in Parliament or municipal councils.
This leaves him with two options: either forming a coalition with eligible parties or running as an independent candidate.
To do so, he must secure at least 300 signatures from political, religious, traditional, and civil society leaders across the country.
Also in the race is Hon. Joshua Osih, flagbearer of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the party credited with spearheading the return to multiparty politics in Cameroon in the early 1990s.
Osih placed fourth in the last election, trailing behind young MP Cabral Libii, who is also expected to run for this election.
Anti-corruption crusader Barrister Akere Muna has also thrown his hat in the ring for a second time, as have two former Biya allies: Tourism Minister Bello Bouba Maigari and ex-Minister of Employment Issa Tchiroma Bakary, both of whom have declared their candidacies.
With the electorate now convened, all aspirants will begin filing their candidacies with the elections management body, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM).
The announcement also officially ends voter registration, although ELECAM still has a legal window to extend the registration period.