President Paul Biya has obtained approval from lawmakers to delay parliamentary and local elections until 2026. Opposition parties express concerns that this move could undermine their ability to challenge Biya in next year’s presidential election. The delay aims to simplify the electoral calendar in Cameroon.

Paul Biya secured approval from lawmakers on Tuesday to postpone parliamentary and local elections until 2026, a move that opposition parties fear could impede their efforts to challenge him in the forthcoming presidential election.

Lawmakers from Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, who hold a majority in the National Assembly, voted in favor of the bill to extend their mandate by a year to March 2026. Consequently, legislative and municipal elections will occur after the 2025 presidential election.

According to François Wakata Bolvine, the presidency’s minister delegate in charge of relations with the assemblies, the delay is necessary to lighten the packed electoral calendar of 2024, which originally included four elections, including regional council polls. Biya, 91, has been in power since 1982 and has seen his share of contested elections, most recently in 2018.

Joshua Osih, opposition lawmaker and chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party, condemned the delay as undemocratic, stressing that the SDF is strongly opposed to it.

Opposition groups worry the postponement could hinder their momentum ahead of the October 2025 presidential election. Per the electoral code, a presidential candidate needs representation in various councils or support from at least 300 dignitaries. Maurice Kamto, Biya’s main challenger in 2018, lacks such representation due to a boycott of the last municipal and legislative elections.

Source: Devdiscourse News