Cameroonians decide Sunday.

Though the Constitutional Council had declared twelve qualified to run for Sunday’s poll, in the course of two weeks of campaigning, the number of candidates has dropped to ten. 

This follows an alliance that saw Barrister Akere Muna, candidate of the UNIVERS party, and Ateki Seta Caxton of the Liberal Alliance Party, PAL, drop out of the race in support of Bello Bouba Maigari of the National Union for Democracy and Progress, UNDP.

The Akere and Ateki support for Bello has failed to fire up popular support for the UNDP candidate. Going to the poll on Sunday, the turn of things on the campaign trail point to the election being a two-horse race. 

Incumbent Head of State, Paul Biya, of the CPDM party, and Issa Tchiroma Bakary of the FSNC, are the two candidates projected to get the highest number of votes.

Tchiroma has been the candidate of surprises, electrifying the national triangle with campaign rallies that have attracted thousands. How that translates to results will be known after Sunday, when voters must have made their choice.

The FSNC presidential candidate has throughout the campaign been sized up as the person who filled the opposition void created by the absence of Prof Maurice Kamto of MRC. 

Kamto, who came second in the 2018 presidential poll, scoring close to 15 percent of votes cast, was barred from the race by the Constitutional Council. 

For those betting for change, Tchiroma is the candidate whose message has touched them. 

As forceful as Tchiroma has been on the campaign trail, Biya’s CPDM, which enjoys an intimidating national presence, is banking on its huge grassroots support to renew the mandate of incumbent Paul Biya.

Unusual year for voters in Grand North…

Unlike in previous presidential polls, the clean sweep the CPDM has enjoyed, that easily gave Bya victory, is under threat this year. Two sons of the three Northern Regions, Issa Tchiroma and Bello Bouba, running for the nation’s top job, means votes will be split.

Analysts are saying as citizens vote on Sunday, the three candidates to share the spoils most in the Adamawa, North and Far North Regions will be President Biya, Issa Tchiroma, and Bello Bouba. It will also be the first time in recent years that the Far North Region is not having the highest number of potential voters.

Thus, candidates will also be counting on the Centre Region, which has over 1.4 million potential voters, to ease their hope for victory. Thus, what happens in Yaounde and Douala in terms of the people’s choice will also greatly influence the outcome of Sunday’s poll.

Signs of voter enthusiasm

Unlike in recent years when voter apathy has remained a headache, the election of Sunday is already enjoying huge enthusiasm among potential voters. 

The atmosphere, it is already being said, could result in more persons showing up at the over 31,000 polling stations at home and abroad, to choose a new Head of State.

In the last couple of days, several potential voters have been crowding offices of elections management body, Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, to collect their voters’ cards. 

That thousands of citizens are making last minute moves to get their voters’ cards, observers say, is in response to the several calls from candidates in the race and civil society for massive participation in the election.

Cabral, Bello, Osih campaign energy not enough?

Less than 48 hours to voting day, pundits say the campaign energy of Candidates Bello Bouba of UNDP, Osih Joshua of SDF, and Cabral Libbi of PCRN, has not met expectations.

Except for Bello, who only returned to the race after decades of supporting Biya, Cabral Libii, who was a sensation in 2018, has not matched the crowds he attracted seven years back. 

Osih too is viewed to have campaigned with a party that is still healing from internal conflicts, limiting its ability to fully exploit its potential. Whatever happens after Sunday’s poll, the SDF and PCRN candidates are also pictured to emerge among the first five in the race.

The lone woman in the race, Hermine Patricia Tomaino Ndam Njoya of the Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU, has also made several in routes in her campaigns. Her weight nationally will only be known when the results are out.

Other candidates such as Serge Espoir Matomba, Pierre Kwemo, Jacques Hagbe and Hiram Iyodi Samuel have already been ruled out of the victory pot. 

Their campaigns have not been intensive like that of other big names in the race. Whatever decision citizens take through the ballot box Sunday, the results will be known latest October 27, in line with Article 137 of the Electoral Code.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3590 of Friday October 10, 2025