Duel emerges for Cameroon presidency as votes counted

Election observers watch as an electoral official counts votes at the Bastos public school polling station in Yaounde, 12 October 2025, after polls closed in Cameroon's presidential election. [AFP]

Supporters of long-standing president Paul Biya and of opponent and former minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary both claimed Monday to be leading Cameroon's presidential race as vote counting was under way.

Biya, the world's oldest serving head of state, is vying to extend his 43 years in power but former employment minister Tchiroma generated unexpected enthusiasm among voters in the central African nation.

Security forces were still strategically placed around the capital Yaounde on Monday, AFP journalists saw, as activities returned to normal following Sunday's poll.

Results are expected to be announced within the next 15 days.

In one neighbourhood of the capital known as a Tchiroma stronghold, supporters chanted "goodbye Paul Biya, Tchiroma is coming" late on Sunday.

"We want change, but we don't want trouble," Abdou Mana, 50, said, adding he was awaiting the official results.

Biya, 92, has been in power since 1982 and has won every election in the past 20 years with more than 70 percent of the vote.

The government authorised 55,000 local and international observers to monitor the polls, including representatives of the African Union.

Citizens eager to "monitor their vote" attended ballot counting sites around the country when polls closed, using their phones to record video.

Images of sheets and blackboards tallying the results have circulated on social media, fuelling victory claims among both Biya and Tchiroma's camps.

While the tally sheets are allowed to be published, final results must be announced by the Constitutional Council.

"This is the red line that must not be crossed," said Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji during a press conference late Sunday.

He added the vote passed off "without major incidents".

Clashes between Tchiroma supporters and law enforcement erupted in a northern stronghold late Sunday.

The Constitutional Council has until October 26 to announce the final results.

The electoral code requires that any grievances must be submitted to the council "within a maximum of 72 hours from the election's closing date", even before results are counted.

Biya faced 11 opponents, including Tchiroma, who resigned from the government in June to join the opposition after 20 years at Biya's side.

He became the leading challenger after top opponent Maurice Kamto was barred from the race by the Constitutional Council.

In 2018 polls, Kamto had declared himself the winner the day after the vote, triggering a severe crackdown on the opposition.

Neither Biya nor Tchiroma have spoken since polls closed, while their supporters claimed victory online.

Congratulatory messages were sent to Tchiroma from a party coalition that had nominated him as a representative candidate, along with another former candidate and a former minister.

Tchiroma's campaign director Chris Maneng told AFP by telephone that he was waiting on the full tally from observers, who were placed at 90 percent of polling stations.

"We have a lead in the vast majority of regions in Cameroon, that is our sentiment," he added.