YAOUNDE: Cameroon’s constitutional court on Tuesday rejected the candidacy of President Paul Biya’s main opponent in October’s presidential election, the contender’s lawyer said.
The Constitutional Council ruled that the candidacy of Maurice Kamto, a high-profile critic of the longtime president, “cannot be valid and the immediate consequence is that he will not participate in the presidential race,” Hippolyte Meli Tiakouang told reporters after the hearing.
Biya, 92, has been in power since 1982 and is seeking an eighth term in office in the October 12 contest.
Kamto, 71, who resigned from the MRC at the end of June, came second to Biya in the 2018 presidential election.
He sought to run this time as the candidate for the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM) and had officially submitted his candidacy last month.
In the 2018 election, Kamto stood for the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) but under the electoral code, parties wanting to run in the presidential election must have MPs in parliament or deputies in municipal councils.
The MRC boycotted the last legislative and municipal elections in 2020.
Constitutional Council president Clement Atangana ruled Kamto’s appeals were admissible for the court to hear but then judged them “unfounded.”
Another MANIDEM candidate submitted his candidacy, but that was also rejected.
After the ruling, Kamto did not comment.
MANIDEM president Anicet Ekane called it “a political decision. We take note of it.
“For the time being, we will not make a statement. We are reflecting on the decision and will decide,” said Ekane.
No media outlet was authorized to broadcast the Constitutional Council’s debates and decisions live.
The ministry of territorial administration announced the arrest of several people accused of disturbing public order near its premises.
Cameroon’s opposition is struggling to challenge the Biya administration.
On Saturday, a group of representatives from several parties published a statement in which they committed “to the choice of a consensus candidate around a common program” without any name being put forward.
In the run-up to Kamto’s exclusion, Human Rights Watch had warned that not allowing him to stand would raise concerns about the credibility of the electoral process.
“Excluding the most popular opponent from the electoral process will leave a shadow over whatever results are eventually announced,” warned Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at HRW.
The NGO warned that the move reflected “the government’s long-standing intolerance of any opposition and dissent, and comes amid increased repression of opponents, activists, and lawyers since mid-2024.”
So far, Cameroon’s Election Commission has approved 13 out of 83 prospective candidates,including Biya and former government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary.
