85-year-old Paul Biya, incumbent President of Cameroon, has been re-elected for a fresh 7-year mandate.
The President of the Constitutional Council, Justice Clement Atangana, confirmed Biya, Monday October 22, 2018, as the winner of the 2018 presidential elections.
According to the proclamation done today in Yaounde, President Paul Biya overwhelmingly won by 71.28%, followed by Maurice Kamto with 14.23% with a 38.60% win in the Littoral Region.
Meanwhile, Cabral Libii of the Universe Party came third with 6,28% of the votes.
Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front, came in fourth position scoring 3,35%, ceding the party’s number one opposition party status, which they have held since the nineties.
Dr. Adamu Ndam Njoya, Garga Haman Hadji, Frankline Ndifor Afanwi, Serge Espoir Matomba and Barrister Akere Muna got 1,73%, 1,55%, 0,67%, 0,56%, and 0,35% respectively.
Going Division after Division, it only took the Constitutional Council less than five hours to successfully peruse all ten regions of Cameroon before proclaiming Paul Biya as the winner.
Winner in nine of the ten regions of Cameroon, Paul Biya has literally crushed his opponents with official scores without appeal: 92.91% in the South, 89.21% in the Far North, 81.62% in the North.
Only one region has escaped the tidal wave of President-candidate Biya: the Littoral, home to the economic capital, Douala, where Maurice Kamto won with 38.60% of the vote.
Meantime, in the Northwest Region, only 5.36% of electors cast their vote.
“The election was free, fair and credible despite security challenges in English-speaking areas,” said Clement Atangana.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on Monday that he “took note” of the results of the presidential election in Cameroon and called, in case of disputes, that they follow “the legal way”.
“All electoral disputes must be handled through the legal channels,” he said in his statement. Antonio Guterres “reaffirms its encouragement to all stakeholders to favor dialogue, which is the best way towards social cohesion and national unity,” the text adds.
In 2011, Paul Biya was re-elected with 78% of the vote, an election that Washington called “distorted”.
This year, the US Department of State congratulated Cameroonians and not the president elect.
“The United States congratulates the people of Cameroon for largely peaceful elections on October 7. We urge all parties – including the government – to respect the rule of law, resolve peacefully any disputes through established legal channels, and avoid hate speech. While we welcome the Cameroonian Election Commission’s demonstrable improvement over the 2011 elections, there were a number of irregularities prior to, during, and after the October 7 election”
Heather Nauert, Department Spokesperson Washington, DC said today.
On the African continent, only the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, has been in power for longer than Biya.
