Some people have been knowing only one and single Cameroonian president since the day they were born. As a matter of fact, Paul Biya has been ruling the country for 41 years: the politician became president of Cameroon for a first term in 1982, and Cameroon has not known any other president ever since.  

In 2018, Biya was reelected for a seventh (!) term, and the upcoming elections of 2025 are coming close. Are we going to witness an eighth term for Biya, who is 91 years old, but does not seem to be willing to leave his presidential seat? For some non-governmental organizations, enough is enough.

Time to change for the sake of the people of Cameroon: in a recent report, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch pointed out that the Cameroonian government of Paul Biya was being particularly unfair and tough with any kind of opposition party in the country. HRW is not saying this assertion for the first time and Cameroon was already criticized for their repressive manners when talking about democracy and politics, but the next political deadlines are not far away, and 2025 is a matter of months.  

Between those who praise stability (and thus Paul Biya) for fear that another president would not manage to make it, and those who think that change must prevail at the top of the State, it is quite complex to consider Cameroon’s future.  

One specific event was highlighted by Human Rights Watch to challenge Cameroon’s will to hold fair elections next year.

According to the NGO, Cameroon is enforcing repression against opposition parties: on March 12, Biya’s government claimed that two platforms had to be considered as illegal and clandestine, which means they will be dismantled. Those two platforms were gathering opposition parties and organizations of the civilian society that wish to build up a significant opposition to Biya in 2025,

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including Political Alliance for Change (APC) and Alliance for a Political Transition in Cameroon (ATP).

HRW is not the only NGO to point out the lack of democracy in Cameroon. In 2023, Amnesty International was charging the government with violating human rights due to unfair and unjustified arrests. At the time, civilians, leaders of opposition parties and journalists had been sent to jail after having been judged by military courts for “terrorist acts”.