CPDM’s Woes Multiply as 55 Militants Quit in Yaounde

The ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) has been hit with yet another blow, as 55 militants, including prominent youth leader Boubakari Moussa, resigned from the party on Sunday, July 6, 2025.

The mass resignation, announced in a communiqué addressed to the CPDM sub-section president for Ebendi-Nkolmintag, in Yaoundé I Subdivision, comes just months before Cameroon’s highly anticipated presidential election scheduled for October.

The timing raises serious questions about internal cohesion and grassroots support for the CPDM, a party that has ruled Cameroon for over four decades under President Paul Biya.

In a statement, Boubakari Moussa, a key figure in the CPDM youth wing in Yaounde I, cited growing frustration with the party’s leadership as the reason for their resignation.

“I expected to be part of a dynamic, ambitious team, resolutely focused on work and results. I must recognize that I am far from these expectations,” Moussa wrote in a resignation letter signed by 55 CPDM militants, including him.

“It is therefore with complete lucidity and responsibility that I have decided to withdraw from the CPDM and from my duties within the office of the OJRDPC Ebendi-Nkolmintag Sub-section.”

The communiqué also noted that “several grassroots activists have also decided to leave the CPDM for the same reasons mentioned”.

Officials from the CPDM party gather in Yaounde. They have yet to comment on the mass defection, but many describe the development as a major setback for the CPDM in Ebendi-Nkolmintag, a sub-section long regarded as a stronghold.

Mounting Challenges for CPDM

This latest wave of resignations follows a similar defection in April 2025, when 44 militants in Obala crossed over to the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF).

The SDF celebrated that move as “a major achievement” as it seeks to regain political relevance after its base was badly disrupted by the ongoing armed conflict in the Anglophone Regions.

Adding to the CPDM’s woes, two of its longtime allies, Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary, recently broke ranks with the party to launch their own presidential campaigns.

Tchiroma, a former government spokesperson, has openly criticized the Biya administration for failing Cameroonians and offering nothing but misery for 42 years.

Meanwhile, speculation over President Paul Biya’s candidacy continues to swirl.

The 92-year-old, who has been in power since 1982, has not officially declared his intentions for the October polls.

However, the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, has been holding sessions with CPDM ministers and Parliamentarians from all 10 regions of the country to prepare for Biya’s possible re-election bid.

President Biya will soon convene the electorate, officially closing voter registration for this year.