Cameroon's presidential election gathers momemtum as candidates file for the October vote

Candidates are starting to vie for position in Cameroon's October presidential election.

Candidacy submissions in Cameroon officially opened on Monday for October’s presidential election. But it wasn’t until Thursday that things gathered momentum, when President Paul Biya filed his candidacy via his proxy Jean Nkuete.  

“We have just submitted the file of the National President of the CPDM, for the post of President of the Republic, being aware that the Cameroonian people are mature enough to know the difference between what is done, what is being done," Nkuete told reporters.

A statement closely followed from Cabral Libi of the PCRN. But it was on the Bamenda side that SDF leader Joshua Osih gave his supporters a rendez-vous.

The candidate of the historic Social Democratic Front deposited his files at Elecam's regional headquarters for the North-West. A significant event for Osih in a town that is suffering from the crisis in the country's English-speaking regions.

"It's very important to know that we have a political identity," Osih told reporters after depositing his candidacy, "and this political identity has its roots in this town. And that's why we have our national headquarters in this city. And so it was impossible to believe that we were going to file elsewhere."

Picking up steam

But events have taken a different turn in the last 24 hours with the filing of candidacies in Yaounde: Bello Bouba Maigari, currently a minister in the Paul Biya government, on behalf of the UNDP, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a resigned minister, Tomaïno Ndam Njoya of the UDC and Leon Theiller Onana, Paul Biya's challenger in the CPDM.

UPC presidential candidate Patricia Hermine Tomaïno Ndam Ndoya, made a pitch for the female candidates in the race: "It's high time Cameroonians understood that women are the voice of peace, of the peace we need and of sincerity. We're going to work with all the categories, the intellectuals".

The most eagerly awaited candidacy on Friday was that of Maurice Kamto, a fierce opponent of the Yaoundé regime.

A candiate supported by Anicet Ekane's Manidem. Kamto, who is causing quite a stir, defying all the predictions, did not speak to the press. He and Anicet Ekane are due to hold a press conference this Saturday at their party headquarters, where they’re expected to unveil their strategy for the future.