In a ceremony at the national parliament in Yaoundé, 92-year-old Paul Biya was sworn in for an eighth seven-year term, further extending his four-decade tenure as the world’s oldest head of state. The inauguration follows a heavily disputed November election where official results granted Biya 54% of the vote, a figure his main rival, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, has branded as fraudulent.
Bakary, a former government spokesperson who broke ranks to challenge the nonagenarian leader, officially secured 35% but has since declared himself the rightful president, leading to his current disappearance as his whereabouts remain unknown.
The political transition has been marked by significant violence, with United Nations sources reporting that at least 48 people have died during nationwide protests sparked by the election results.
In the days leading up to the inauguration, major cities and opposition strongholds like Douala and Garoua were turned into “ghost towns” as citizens heeded Bakary’s call for stay-at-home strikes. Despite these demonstrations and eight petitions filed to the Constitutional Council, the results were upheld by judges who were all appointed by Biya, prompting the opposition to dismiss the judicial process as biased.
As Biya begins another term after a campaign in which he made only a single public appearance, the country remains in a state of high tension. The government continues to deny allegations of electoral malpractice and excessive force, while international observers have raised concerns over the disappearance of the opposition leader and the mounting death toll.
With the military maintaining a heavy presence in the capital, the aging president faces a deeply divided nation and a growing crisis of legitimacy.
