Cameroon president-elect thanks voters, calls for unity

Cameroon’s president-elect Paul Biya thanked citizens at home and abroad for voting massively for him to continue in his role as president.

Monday, October 22 message was Biya’s first political message since the 7th when he cast his ballot at the Government Bilingual Primary School Bastos in the capital, Yaounde.

The message posted on his social media handles read as follows: “Dear compatriots in Cameroon and the Diaspora, Thank you for your renewed and large confidence.

“Let us now join in taking up, TOGETHER, the challenges that confront us in ensuring a more united, stable and prosperous Cameroon,” it added accompanied by a photo of Biya.

Biya won re-election with 71% of valid votes cast in a poll that was marked by low turnout. The country’s Constitutional Council announced the results of the polls on Monday amid high security across the country.

The Council last week dismissed eighteen petitions lodges against the conduct of the polls. Biya, 85, will thus be extending his 36-year rule by another seven more years. This is his seventh term in office but fifth under the multi-party era.

He is only behind Equatorial Guinea’s Theodore Obiang Nguema on the list of Africa’s longest-standing leaders. Opposition chief Maurice Kamto dismissed the final results insisting that the process was flawed.

#2018 presidential election: Biya Paul has been proclaimed winner of the October 7 election with a 71.28%. pic.twitter.com/SpIpHSbPDu

— ELECTIONS CAMEROON (@Elecam2018) October 22, 2018