YAOUNDE, Cameroon — Cameroon on Friday set the next presidential election for Oct. 12, according to a statement from the country's longtime president. The vote comes at a key time for the west African nation whose 92-year-old leader has not ruled out that he would seek another term.
Paul Biya, Africa's second longest-serving president after Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, is frequently sick and abroad, and last year, talk spread that he had died, prompting the government to publicly deny the rumors.
The over 40 years of Biya's stay in power has left a lasting impact. His government has faced various challenges, including allegations of corruption and a secessionist movement in Cameroon's English-speaking provinces that has forced thousands out of school and triggered deadly clashes with security forces.
Cameroon has also had to deal with spillover violence by the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group, based in neighboring Nigeria.
Recently, several of Biya's longtime allies defected to announce their own candidacies for president.
Bello Bouba Maigari, Cameroon's tourism minister, quit last week after Issa Tchiroma Bakary resigned as minister of employment and vocational training, both pitching themselves as the right candidates to succeed Biya.
Biya, in power since 1982, is also Cameroon's second president since independence from France in 1960. Though he has not announced whether he would seek another term, he has hinted at accepting the ruling party's requests for him to run again.
He cruised to victory in 2018 with over 70% of the vote in an election marred by irregularities and low turnout due to ongoing separatist and jihadi violence.
