World's oldest ruler re-elected in Cameroon, protests erupt

Cameroon's President Paul Biya, the world's oldest serving ruler, secured an eighth term in office on Monday, election results showed, triggering clashes between security forces and opposition supporters who say the vote was rigged.

Backers of opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary, armed with sticks and stones, blocked off roads with debris and burning tyres in the central African country's commercial capital Douala.

Police fired tear gas at crowds who wore masks or tried to cover their faces with clothing. In other parts of the city, streets that normally buzzed with motorbikes were deserted.

Biya - aged 92, with a new mandate that could keep him in power until he is almost 100 - said the people had once again placed their trust in his leadership and expressed sorrow for the violence in a statement posted on social media platform X.

"My first thoughts are with all those who have unnecessarily lost their lives, as well with their families, as a result of the post-election violence," Biya said. The government has rejected opposition accusations of irregularities.

TYRES BURN IN DOUALA

Official results published on Monday showed Biya winning the October 12 vote by a comfortable margin of 53.66% against 35.19% for opposition leader Tchiroma.

Tchiroma claimed victory last week and said he would not accept any other outcome. Protests erupted in several towns after early, partial results suggested Biya was on track for victory. The government urged people to wait for the results.

Over the weekend, four people died in clashes in Douala, the opposition said.

"We expect unrest to escalate as Cameroonians widely reject the official result, and we cannot see the Biya government lasting much longer," said Francois Conradie, lead political economist at Oxford Economics.

Tchiroma said on Facebook that shots fired at civilians outside his home in the northern city of Garoua killed two people on Monday. Reuters could not independently confirm his account or who had fired the shots.

"We all know that the majority of Cameroon's people voted for Issa Tchiroma Bakary," said one protester in Douala. "It is inadmissible that President Paul Biya won in certain war zones."

Riot police roamed on patrol and businesses stayed closed.

"Biya now has a notably shaky mandate given many of his own citizens don't believe he won the election," Murithi Mutiga, Africa Program Director at the International Crisis Group, told Reuters.

"We call on Biya to urgently initiate a national mediation to prevent further escalation," Mutiga added.

ALLY TO RIVAL

Biya took office in 1982 and has held a tight grip on power ever since, doing away with the presidential term limit in 2008 and winning reelection by comfortable margins.

Cameroon's elderly president is no anomaly in the region, where some of the world's youngest populations are governed by leaders over 80.

Togo's president is 86. Ivory Coast's president, who is expected to win last week's election, is 83.

The opposition says voters in Cameroon are clamouring for change after more than four decades of Biya's rule, during which economic development in the oil- and cocoa-producing nation has stagnated.

Even Biya's daughter Brenda published a now-deleted TikTok video urging voters not to choose her father.

Tchiroma, in his 70s, is a former government spokesperson and employment minister who broke ranks with Biya earlier this year.

His transformation from ally to opposition figurehead and challenger is one of the most striking political shifts in Cameroon's recent history.

His campaign drew large crowds and endorsements from a coalition of opposition parties and civic groups.