The country is not safer, more stable or any clearer about the succession despite an apparently decisive election victory
Few were surprised when President Paul Biya, 85, defeated his two main challengers – Maurice Kamto from the Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun (MRC) and Cabral Libii Ngue from the Univers Party – and swept to a seventh term in office. Officially, he had won 71.3% of the 7 October presidential vote, against 14.9% and 6% of the vote for the others respectively, but the conduct of the poll, the count and its context have been heavily criticised. Now, however, Cameroonians are supposed to understand and accept Biya's unquestioned dominance. Yet the nationwide split on language lines, the brutal insurgency and the equally violent counter-insurgency, as well as the activities of Boko Haram in the extreme north continue much as before.
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