For the first time, Cameroonians in the Diaspora were given the opportunity to vote.

The runners up include leading opposition candidate – Ni John Fru Ndi of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, with 10.712 percent, Garga Haman Adji of the Alliance for Democracy and Development, ADD, came third with 3.211 percent of the votes.

Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya of Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU, ranked fourth with 1.733 percent. Hon. Paul Ayah Abine of People Action Party, PAP grabbed 1.264 percent of the votes while Edith Kahbang Walla of Cameroon People’s Party, CPP bagged 0.716 percent.

Albert Dzongang of La Dynamique trailed with 0.545 percent. Jean de Dieu Momo of PADDEC, Jean Jacques Ekindi of Progressive Movement, PM and Bernard Acho Muna of Alliance of Progressive Forces, APF, scored 0.491, 0.46 and 0.326 percent respectively.

Prior to the proclamation of the results, there was a morose and in some towns across the country a tensed atmosphere, following the call by seven (John Fru Ndi, Adamou Ndam Njoya, Edith Kahbang Walla, Jean De Dieu Momo, Ben Acho Muna, Paul Ayah Abine and Anicet Ekane) opposition party leaders for Cameroonians to protest what they termed poorly managed and rigged election. The people, however, ignored the call.

Talking to journalists at the close of the 9-hour proclamation exercise, SDF Chieftain, Fru Ndi said; “The Supreme Court has validated an election that was mired in fraud and widespread rigging.”

To the ruling CPDM, their Secretary General, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, mentioned that “Biya’s overwhelming victory was a faithful manifestation of the intensive campaigns they had carried out in the field. The CPDM party does not wait for the election period to impose its presence in the nooks and crannies of the country.”

One of the candidates, Fritz Pierre Ngo of Cameroon Movement for Ecologists, CME, said he was comfortable with the 15th position in which he emerged, thanking all those who voted for him. However, Ngo expressed with regrets the poor showing of his party, stating that it is a pointer to the fact that the electorate did not understand the very important environmental message he was putting across to them.

In the build up to the release of the presidential results, some twenty petitions were filed to the Supreme Court by some of the candidates. Some of the petitions were dismissed by the court on the argument that the authors did not file any documents to buttress the allegations of electoral fraud that they reported.

Another petition calling on the Court to cancel the October 9 poll partially or totally was squashed, with the Court saying the magnitude of the irregularities reported were not enough to influence the outcome of the election.

According to the legal instruments governing Presidential Elections in Cameroon, the elected President has fifteen days, after the declaration of the results to be sworn in. Since November 6 1982, President Biya has been at the helm of political power in Cameroon.

Cameroon’s first President, Ahmadou Ahidjo (deceased) handed over power to Biya (then Prime Minister) on November 4, 1982, following Ahidjo’s resignation as the President of the Republic. November 6 1982, Biya officially took office as Cameroon’s second President. Since then, he has been at the centre of power in Cameroon.

While his critics have faulted him for running a centralised system of governance, not putting enough punch on the fight against corruption and embezzlement, his enthusiasts hail him for the generalised peaceful atmosphere reigning in Cameroon.