A high-profile critic of Cameroon’s long-serving President Paul Biya has been formally excluded by electoral authorities from the provisional list of approved candidates for the upcoming October 12 presidential vote.
Maurice Kamto, a significant opposition figure, was notably absent among the thirteen candidates on the initial list publicly issued by the national electoral council on Saturday.
Kamto, who is seventy-one years old, had officially submitted his candidacy last week, representing one of eighty-three names initially put forward to the national electoral body.
The definitive and final list of presidential candidates will be officially announced in the coming days, pending the careful consideration of any challenges submitted against this provisional selection.
Kamto notably secured second place to President Biya in the highly contested 2018 presidential election, establishing himself as a prominent opposition voice within the political landscape.
He had sought to run in this election as the designated candidate for the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM), aiming to challenge the long-standing incumbency.
The ninety-two-year-old President Biya, who has held power since 1982, is currently seeking an unprecedented eighth term in office, extending his decades-long rule over the West African nation.
Among the thirteen candidates provisionally approved to participate in the upcoming election are former Prime Minister Bello Bouba Maigari, a consistent ally of Biya’s for nearly thirty years.
Also included is Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who recently resigned from his position as employment minister in early June specifically to submit his own candidacy for the top office.
