Maurice Kamto, the main challenger to President Paul Biya in Cameroon’s 2018 election, won’t be permitted to contest the next ballot on Oct. 12 after his candidacy was rejected by the country’s election board.
Kamto, 71, failed to comply with legal requirements by accepting a nomination from the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, which boycotted legislative and municipal elections in 2020 and — under Section 121 of the electoral code — is no longer eligible to put forward a candidate, Elections Cameroon, or ELECAM, said on Saturday.
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Metrobusinessnews.com (MBN) had reported recently that Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state at 92, will run for re-election in this year’s presidential vote on October 12, a post on the president’s X account said on Sunday.
“I am a candidate in the presidential election. Rest assured that my determination to serve you matches the urgency of the challenges we face,” the post on the official account said.
Biya, , who is seeking a new term that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100, came to power more than four decades ago in 1982, when his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo resigned.
His health is the subject of frequent speculation, most recently last year when he disappeared from public view for 42 days.
His re-election bid had been widely anticipated but not formally confirmed until that Sunday’s social media post.