Maurice Kamto has excluded from the election of Cameroon

The Cameroon Constitutional Council has confirmed the decision of the country’s electoral body to exclude the head of the opposition Maurice Kamto from the October 12 presidential election.

While the political silhouette of the shooting brand has been sidelined, the 92-year-old president, Paul Biya, whose candidacy was also confronted with the opposition, was authorized to run for what would be his eighth mandate in the central African nation rich in oil.

If he was elected for another seven -year term, he could stay in power until the age of almost 100.

Kamto was excluded because a rival faction of the Manidem party which approved it presented another individual as a candidate, highlighting an internal quarrel.

His exclusion triggered indignation, his lawyers describing the rejection of his petition as more political than a legal movement.

Of the 83 candidates who submitted their requests to the electoral body, only 12 were approved.

The reasons presented by the Cameroon elections (ELECAM) for the disqualification of the 71 range of incomplete files, non-payment of the required deposit, to several applications of the same party.

Of all the candidates, six are considered the main contenders:

1. Paul Pay

At 92, Paul Biya is the oldest head of state in the world. It has been in power for almost 43 years since 1982. Biya directed the CPDM ruling party which dominates the political scene. He is widely considered the favorite, now that his main rival, Kamto, is away.

The veteran politician has never lost an election since the return of multipartite policy in 1990. However, his victories were tainted by allegations of voting rigging – says his party and the government have continuously denied.

Announcing his intention to run, Biya said that his eighth term would focus on the well-being of women and young people.

2. Bello Boosa Star

Bello Bouba Maigari, 78, is an experienced politician who is from the Northern region rich in votes in Cameroon.

He is the president of the National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) founded in 1990. He served in the governments of the two presidents of Cameroon -Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya.

In fact, he was the first Prime Minister of Biya between 1982 and 1983. Since 1997, Maigari has forged an alliance with the Biya CPDM party which helped the latter landed important northern votes.

However, this political marriage ended in June following the pressure of his party to present itself independently.

While being Minister of State for Tourism and Leisure, Maigari announced his resignation and declared himself a candidate against Biya, which he was also faced in the 1992 presidential election.

3. Isa Tchiroma Bakary

Another former Biya ally whose candidacy was a surprise is Issa Tchiroma Bakary, 75. Like Maigari, it is from the north of the country and had an influence to help Biya guarantee the votes of the region.

After a 20 -year stay in various roles of the government, Tchiroma finally took the account of his time with the 92 -year -old, resigning from his role as Minister of Employment and Vocational Training to announce his candidacy.

Tchiroma, who heads the party of Cameroon National Salvation Front (CNSF), criticized the style of governance of Biya and armed his presidential candidacy on a promise to revise the system, which he described as “suffocating”.

4. Cabral libii

Cabral Libii, president of the Cameroon party for national reconciliation (PCRN), is a dynamic deputy who makes his second attempt to obtain the first job of the country.

In 2018, he was the youngest of the nine presidential candidates, aged only 38, third with 6% of the vote.

Libii’s candidacy during this year’s elections was challenged by the founder of the PCRN, Robert Kona, who challenged the legitimacy of the legislator to lead the party.

However, the Constitutional Council rejected the Kona petition and confirmed the decision of the electoral body to allow Libii to stand up.

5. ACRAE MUNA

Akere Muna was a candidate in the 2018 presidential election, but retired at the last minute and launched his weight behind Kamto. This time, Muna, an ardent anti-corruption international lawyer, says he wants to challenge Biya himself.

The 72-year-old man is from a family of politicians-his late father Salomon Tandeg Muna was Prime Minister of Cameroon-West after independence, vice-president of the Federal Republic of Cameroon and president of the National Assembly.

As a speaker, Salomon Muna swore in Biya when he took the post of president after the resignation of Ahmadou Ahidjo.

Muna promises to get rid of the bilingual country of corruption and bad governance which, according to him, defiled his image on the international scene.

6. Joshua Osih

Joshua Osih jumps into the presidential race for the second time after his first attempt in 2018 turned out to be futile.

He headed the Party of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), succeeding the emblematic leader of the opposition, John Fru Ndi. The SDF was the country’s main opposition resistance, but its influence then decreased, exacerbated by the intestines and the expulsion of several members of the party in 2023.

Osih, 56, arrived fourth in the 2018 polls with 3%, but hopes to defeat Biya by a promise of social and institutional reforms.

For many decades, President Biya has managed to maintain a firm grip on power, which makes him difficult to lose elections.

The decision of political heavyweights Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary to challenge him seems to make life more difficult, but some analysts think that they do not constitute an important threat to Biya.

Dr. Pippie Hugues, political analyst of the Cameroonian reflection group Nkafu Policy Institute, argues that their alliance with the current regime reduces their credibility with opposition voters.

“Cameroonians need more than just resignation to trust them,” he told BBC. “The two were with the system and saw the nation suffer.”

Dr. Hugues also suggested that the two candidates in the North could be part of a political plot organized by the regime.

However, the leaders of the ruling party described the rupture as authentic, recognizing that the CPDM could find it difficult to obtain as many votes from the north as before.

Given the exclusion of Kamto, the strongest challenger in Biya in 2018, Libii, third place, could undoubtedly claim to be his main threat this year.

Although it has only obtained 6% of the votes, Libii’s political evolution has since been praised.

He led his party to win five seats in Parliament and seven local councils during the legislative and municipal elections of 2020. Since he became a member of the Parliament in the process, he challenged the government on the main political questions, promising radical changes if he takes up the reins of power.

However, Dr. Hugues says that Libii’s vision is opaque, quoting Akere Muna as a more convincing candidate with a much clearer project for the nation of almost 30 million people.

“Muna has a richness of international experience and diplomatic character, and that is what the nation now needs,” he said, while renting the renowned five-year transition plan to “put the nation on the right track”.

Historically, the opposition of Cameroon was fragmented in particular during the elections, the analysts saying that this had disadvantaged them.

Before this year’s presidential election, there have been a lot of discussions on the need for opposition to unite and harmonize strategies to face Biya. But with each candidate prioritizing his own interests, it is not clear if most – not to mention everyone – of them would work together, despite the risk that this could help the president.

“It could be the end of their political career, or their parties, if they do not meet,” said civil society chief Felix Agbor Balla.

“Kamto and the others must seek someone in the opposition who can carry the stick-and they must put the nation first, go beyond their personal ego to search for a consensual candidate who can give the CPDM a race on October 12,” he told the BBC.

Dr. Hugues agrees that Kamto should use his influence to stimulate the support of an opposition coalition because he is now out of the race.

He insists that “change should not (only) come with him (Kamto), but change can pass it”.

He added that an opposition coalition is possible and referred to a meeting attended by the opposition on August 2 in the city of Fouman in the West region.

Prince Michael Ekosso, president of the United Socialist Democratic Party (USDP), who participated in the meeting, told the BBC that the goal was to lay the foundations for a “consensual candidate”.

Although no specific candidate has yet been appointed, the consideration criteria have been set.

“We want a figure that will respond to the aspirations of Cameroonians, someone who is flexible to work with others, someone who is bilingual and capable of mobilizing other candidates and political actors,” said Ekosso.

During the 1992 presidential election, the head of the John Fru Ndi fire opposition was supported by the Union for Change, a coalition of political parties and civil society organizations.

Although he was not the only opposition candidate, analysts say that the coalition helped him obtain 36% of the vote – just under 40% of Biya.

It was the closest that we never had to beat Biya. Fru Ndi even won the victory, but the authorities rejected the allegations of voting rigging and confirmed Biya as a winner.

Many believe that if the opposition does not come together as it did in 1992, Biya could have an easy race for the presidency.

“He has experience, human resources and the system to his advantage,” said Dr. Hugues.