Several political leaders have called on the president to seek a new mandate in the 2025 election, despite persistent concerns about his health.

As with every presidential election in Cameroon, the calls for Paul Biya to run again—now 91 and facing many questions about his health—are multiplying. The leaders of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC, the ruling party) began these efforts as early as 2023, but now the movement is spreading to smaller allied parties.

On October 6, the Democratic Movement for the Defence of the Republic (MDR) made its move. At a special convention in Maroua (Extreme North region), the MDR announced that it would keep to its long-standing policy of supporting the president.

“Implementation of Congress Recommendations”

“Remaining true to the path set by its founder, the late Dakolé Daïssala, the MDR will continue to back President Paul Biya’s candidacy in the 2025 election,” said a resolution signed by its president, Senator Paulin Djorwe. “We are preparing calmly. The party is ready. We are urging our supporters to follow this direction,” added the lawyer, who was officially installed as the new leader after serving two years as interim.

A few days earlier, another call for Biya’s candidacy came from the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC) in Yaoundé.

After an October 4 meeting between Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji and Robert Bapooh Lipot, who leads one faction of the historically divided UPC, Lipot said his party would support Biya in 2025. “We are carrying out the congress’s recommendations and honouring the commitments made by our late Secretary-General, Augustin Frederic Kodock, to support the man who made sure our heroes, Ruben Um Nyobe, Ernest Ouandié, Abel Kingué… are celebrated in this nation,” he added.

Battle of Coalitions

The MDR and the Lipot-led UPC are both part of the ruling majority. The MDR aligned with Paul Biya’s RDPC after the March 1992 legislative elections. Defeated by the opposition that year, the ruling party gained a majority only after the MDR’s six deputies joined them. That same year, the MDR entered the government, securing four ministerial posts.

The UPC joined a few months later. After tough negotiations with its then-Secretary-General Augustin Frederic Kodock, it also joined the government in October 1992, gaining four ministries and a position as Minister of State in 1994. However, decades later, both parties have greatly weakened.

Hampered by internal infighting, both the MDR and UPC have lost much of their influence. In the 2020 legislative elections, the MDR managed only one seat, while the UPC was barred from running due to its divisions. Nevertheless, these parties remain symbolic, and the RDPC continues to rely on them to promote its policy of inclusiveness. In 2018, the ruling party leaned heavily on the support of the G20—a coalition of allied parties—to counter the opposition, particularly the campaign of Maurice Kamto.

Who will mobilise more this time? As the next elections approach, the battle for coalition support has resumed in full force.

Culled from The Africa Report