Presidential Elections 2025: Will Self-interest stall Opposition consensus candidate Talks?

Opposition candidates in Cameroon’s October 12 Presidential election are yet to agree over selection of a consensus candidate to challenge the incumbent, Paul Biya of the CPDM.

Though negotiations between the two political heavy weights from the North ( Bello & Tchiroma)and that from the West(Kamto) whose file was rejected, it’s still not clear if they will bell the cat before time runs out.

In an earlier negotiation attempt by some seven opposition candidates for the race, the political parties so far only reached a minimal agreement in their efforts to unify ahead of the presidential election after two days meeting.

 A communique from the August 8-9 gathering, coordinated by candidate Hermine Patricia Tomaïno Ndam Njoya, announced the creation of a “Working Group for the Management of Representatives in Polling Stations.”

The group failed to reach any agreement on a single candidate.

According to the statement, this group is tasked with coordinating the presence of party representatives in polling stations both within Cameroon and internationally. It will also be responsible for ensuring the “transparency of the electoral process and the security of citizens’ votes.”

A logistical challenge for a fragmented opposition

Monitoring the vote is a critical issue for the presidential election in Cameroon. Elections Cameroon (Elecam), the body in charge of organizing the vote, has already published a list of 33,000 polling stations across the country. This number presents a significant logistical and human resource challenge for opposition parties, who acknowledge that unlike the ruling RDPC party, no single opposition group has the capacity to deploy representatives to every polling station. This weakness, analysts say, allows the ruling party to secure victory in stations where the opposition is unable to field representatives.

For the remainder of the conclave, opposition members said they had agreed to establish a “Technical Committee for the Consolidation of the Common Program.” This committee’s mission, the statement said, is “to harmonize the political, social, and economic visions of the candidates engaged in the consensual approach.” The goal is to develop a common platform to bring “hope and change to the Cameroonian people.”

 These resolutions underscore the difficulty the opposition faces in uniting behind a single candidate to challenge incumbent President Paul Biya. Several candidates, including Cabral Libii and Joshua Osih, were notably absent from the discussions, having clearly stated their refusal to join a coalition they would not lead.

The Bello Bouba, Issa Tchioma, Kamto connection.

Other parallel negotiations are taking place, particularly between former ministers Issa Tchiroma Bakary and Bello Bouba Maïgari, two political heavyweights from the northern regions. Their teams have been in active negotiations for several days that led to a meeting between the two men. “It was not easy,” said a source close to Bello Bouba Maïgari, “but we negotiated for them to meet and they finally met. The goal is to agree on a single candidate.” This same source confirmed that contacts are ongoing with the teams of Maurice Kamto, a major opposition figure who has been excluded from the presidential race, in an effort to secure his support for the eventual opposition candidate. Cameroonians believe very strongly his backing of any of the two opposition heavy weights from the North, Bello or Tchiroma will ignite hope for the long expected change after the October polls.

The opposition has the challenge to agree on unified candidate if they want change that the Cameroon population is yearning for. Time is not on their side.

August 11 was the deadline set by Elecam for submitting party colors and logos for the printing of ballots. After this date, it will no longer be possible to withdraw the ballots of candidates who might drop out. However, a source close to Bello Bouba Maïgari noted that there would still be several weeks after the deadline to sign off on the final proofs before printing. This gives the candidates a small window to intensify their negotiations.