World’s oldest leader tipped for 8th term in Cameroon vote

CAMEROON’S Paul Biya, already the world’s oldest head of state, is the favourite to win Sunday’s presidential election, handing him an eighth term in power in the central African country.

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CAMEROON incumbent President Paul Biya flanked by his wife, Cameroon First Lady Chantal Biya, right, addresses a rally in Maroua.

(AFP)

A fractured opposition of 11 candidates is standing against the 92-year-old in the vote, whose credibility and fairness rights groups have called into question.

Most of the 7.8 million Cameroonians called to the ballot box can remember no leader other than Biya, who has held onto power with an iron fist since 1982.

Questions over the state of his health have only grown louder since he entered his 10th decade. Should Biya win, he would be nearly 100 by the end of his eighth term.

Though the opposition hopes to entice voters with promises of a new face and an end to the cost-of-living frustrations of the long Biya epoch, its most credible candidate, Maurice Kamto, had his candidacy barred by the courts.

Theophile, an artist in the economic capital Douala, branded the vote a “scam”.