Paul Biya on Monday extended his ironclad 43-year grip on power, winning an eighth term as Cameroon’s president despite making few appearances on the campaign trail.
The country’s Constitutional Council said the 92-year-old incumbent secured 53.7% of the vote, defeating main challenger Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who finished with 35.2%.
While Biya’s 11 rivals fanned out across the Central African nation to rally support ahead of the Oct. 12 election, the longtime leader largely stayed out of sight – in keeping with his image as the “Sphinx,” a figure shrouded in secrecy and silence.
The world’s oldest sitting head of state launched his re-election bid on Sept. 27 through a slick social media video that critics say leaned heavily on AI-generated imagery.
His campaign since then has relied mostly on daily posts to X, recycling old photographs and familiar quotes that evoke a distant past rather than a fresh vision.
