YAOUNDE/DOUALA, Cameroon (Reuters) - Cameroon saw isolated incidents of unrest in separatist Anglophone regions during voting on Sunday in an election widely expected to extend the rule of President Paul Biya, one of Africa’s last multi-decade leaders.

Polls closed at 1700 GMT after a mostly calm day of voting, but a drive by secessionists to disrupt the election meant not all polling stations were open in English-speaking regions, where voter turnout was low due to security fears.

Tallying the nationwide vote could take up to two weeks.

The army said a regional official suffered a minor injury after his convoy was ambushed by rebels. A security source said at least three armed separatists were shot dead by security forces in the northwest English-speaking town of Bamenda.

The reports could not be independently verified and separatist leaders could not be reached for comment.

Victory for Biya, 85, who has ruled for 36 years, would give him a seventh term, bucking a move by some Africa nations to install presidential term limits. The only current African president to have ruled longer is Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Related Coverage Three armed separatists shot dead during Cameroon vote: security source

In a speech after casting his vote in the capital Yaounde, Biya did not make specific reference to separatist violence.

“The election campaign took place peacefully,” he said, urging the country to “keep this self-control when the results are out.”

Oil and cocoa producing Cameroon has seen economic growth of over 4 percent a year since Biya was last elected in 2011, but many of its 24 million citizens live in deep poverty.

The secessionist uprising in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions, home to 5 million people, has cost hundreds of lives and forced thousands to flee either to the French-speaking regions or into neighboring Nigeria.

In the English-speaking regional capital of Buea, military snipers kept watch from rooftops on Sunday, part of the army’s response to separatists’ threat to stop the vote.

Two polling stations in Buea visited by a Reuters witness were not operational as staff did not have sufficient electoral materials. Only a few voters were seen casting ballots at other stations in the area and the streets were almost empty.

Electoral workers prepare the polling station where President Paul Biya will cast his ballot in Sunday's presidential election in Yaounde, Cameroon October 6, 2018. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Biya did not visit the English-speaking regions during his campaign. A central problem of his rule has been his long bid to centralize a hugely diverse population in a country founded in 1961 on the promise of federalism and autonomy for its regions.

In 2016, protests by Anglophone lawyers and teachers against the marginalization of minority English speakers in their professions led to a heavy-handed clampdown, in which unarmed civilians were shot dead. That radicalized many and armed groups formed in the lush forests of the west.

MONITORING THE VOTE

Some opposition parties have united in an effort to harness discontent about the country’s crumbling infrastructure and about Biya, who they say has ruled Cameroon like a personal fiefdom for too long. The president goes years without convening cabinet meetings and spends long stretches out of the country with his wife Chantal, most often holidaying in Switzerland.

In 2011, Biya won 78 percent of the vote in an election the United States said was “marked by irregularities”. The odds are still against the opposition, including the main candidate, Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front.

Osih urged supporters via Twitter to monitor the count. The authorities have said the election would be free and fair.

“I have come to watch the vote to protect it against theft.” said retired teacher Jean Pierre Tassam, 62, at a polling station in Yaounde where results were being chalked up on a board. “I am worried what the party of power will steal my vote.”

Slideshow (3 Images)

Of the country’s 24 million people, only 6.5 million were registered to vote as of Oct. 1, according to the election authority, reflecting resignation to a continuation of Biya’s long rule. Polling stations were quiet throughout the day even in the capital.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said the government had taken steps to ensure a smooth election. “It is not impossible that here and there they may be troublemakers,” he told journalists after he voted.

The African Union and other organizations monitored Sunday’s vote, but opposition candidates have already complained of efforts to fix the election in Biya’s favor.</s>Cameroonians head to the polls on Sunday in an election widely expected to extend the 36-year rule of President Paul Biya and confirm his place as one of Africa's last multi-decade leaders.

YAOUNDE: Cameroonians head to the polls on Sunday in an election widely expected to extend the 36-year rule of President Paul Biya and confirm his place as one of Africa's last multi-decade leaders.

A victory for Biya, who has ruled since 1982, would usher in a seventh term for the 85-year-old and see him stay until at least the age of 92, bucking a tentative trend in Africa where many countries have installed presidential term limits. The only current African president to have ruled longer is Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

It would maintain a long held status quo in the oil and cocoa producing Central African country where, despite relative economic stability and growth of over 4 percent a year since Biya was last elected in 2011, many of its 24 million citizens live in deep poverty. Most have only known one president.

Looming over the polls is a secessionist uprising in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions that has cost hundreds of lives and forced thousands to flee either to the French-speaking regions or into neighbouring Nigeria. Ghost towns remain, where the few who have stayed say they are afraid to go out and vote.

Some opposition parties have united in an effort to bolster support and harness discontent about the country's crumbling infrastructure and about Biya, who they say has ruled Cameroon like a personal fiefdom for too long. The president goes years without convening cabinet meetings and spends long stretches out of the country with his wife Chantal, most often holidaying in Switzerland.

"There are many problems. There are no roads, no hospitals. We are poor. Biya must go," said 31-year-old businessman Emmanuel Bassong during an opposition rally in the capital Yaounde on Saturday.

The odds, and history, are against the opposition, including the main candidate, Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front. In 2011, Biya won with 78 percent of the vote in an election that the United States state department described as "flawed" and "marked by irregularities."

The African Union and other organizations are monitoring Sunday's vote, but opposition candidates have already complained of efforts to fix the election in Biya's favour.

Biya's home advantage is clear across the hilly, green capital, where thousands of posters lining the roadside and draped down the side of high-rise buildings declare "the force of experience" of the incumbent. Tailors sell fabric bearing Biya's face that they make into dresses and suits seen all over town.

Billboards advertising other candidates meanwhile are almost totally absent.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary on Saturday laughed off the idea of the opposition posing a threat to Biya.

"The likelihood of his victory is beyond reasonable doubt. I am confident that the game is already done," he said.

Separatists have vowed to stop the polls from taking place in the English-speaking regions, home to 5 million people, about one-fifth of the population. Residents in those areas told Reuters that they would not vote anyway because of the insecurity.

The crisis points to a central problem of Biya's rule: his long bid to centralise a hugely diverse population in a country founded in 1961 on the promise of federalism and autonomy for its regions.

In 2016, Anglophone lawyers and teachers protested against the marginalisation of minority English speakers in their professions. The government's heavy-handed clampdown, in which unarmed civilians were shot dead, radicalised many. Armed groups formed in the lush forests of the west.

Biya did not visit the English-speaking regions during his campaign.

Separatists have vowed to stop the polls from taking place on Sunday and have blocked the main highways. Spokesman Bakary said that the separatists were "daydreaming" if they thought they could stop the polls and that the government has put measures in place to ensure they go ahead.

Military vehicles were stationed throughout the northwest town of Bamenda on Friday, residents said, and shops and banks are closed.

"The streets are empty. I don't think I will go and vote," one local said. Since I started voting in 1997, the elections have not changed a thing."</s>Polls are opening in Cameroon as Africa’s oldest leader is widely expected to win another term as president.

Polls are opening in Cameroon as Africa’s oldest leader is widely expected to win another term as president.

Biya likely to win fresh term in Cameroon amid separatist threats

Separatists have threatened to disrupt the election, and many people who have fled the unrest are unable to vote.

President Paul Biya, who has held office since 1982, has vowed to end the crisis.

The fractured opposition has been unable to rally behind a strong challenger to the 85-year-old.

A victory likely would come with a weakened mandate for Mr Biya as many residents of the troubled English-speaking south-west and north-west regions have fled elsewhere.

By law, voters can only cast a ballot in the community where they are registered.

Cameroon’s government has said that anyone who tries to organise chaos on election day “risks being disagreeably surprised”.</s>President Paul Biya, the 85-year-old Cameroonian leader seeking a seventh term on Sunday, has developed an effective system to stay in power despite long overseas absences.

One of Africa's longest serving leaders, he has made Yaounde's Etoudi presidential palace his home since 1982.

"Those who want power don't last, it's those who can (rule)" he told journalists in 2015, making a rare remark about his long years in charge of Cameroon.

He also once warned of his sweeping powers telling a Cameroonian journalist in 1986: "Just a little shake of my head and you'll be reduced to nothing."

One aspect of his time in office is the "subtle balance of forces" which Biya has created, in a region where leadership changes are often accompanied by force, according to International Crisis Group's (ICG) Hans de Marie Heungoup.

Cameroon's system was "designed so that everyone polices themselves and maintained inter-generational and ethnic rivalries," Heungoup said.

"No one can move an active (security force) unit without the say-so of the president," he added, emphasising the importance of the balance between the regular army, the rapid intervention force, and the presidential guard -- the last two of which report directly to the president.

The president's appointment of loyalists to key posts has also assured his lasting rule.

The speaker of the National Assembly, the head of the army and the head of the state-run oil and gas company are all confidants of the president, and have each held their jobs for more than 15 years.

The system has been strengthened through "a mix of resigned acceptance and patronage among certain elite leaders who rally behind the regime," said Fred Eboko, a researcher at the French Institute for Research and Development (IRD).

Biya, a Christian from southern Cameroon, was born on February 2, 1933 to a peasant family in a village 220 kilometres (140 miles) south of the capital Yaounde.

The former seminarist studied law in France before landing a prominent government job upon his return home in 1962.

He was named prime minister in 1975, but precisely how he was anointed to succeed Cameroon's founding president Amadou Ahidjo in November 1982 remains a mystery.

Unlike more fiery and flamboyant peers in the club of long-standing African leaders, Biya -- who is nicknamed "The Sphinx" -- is a quiet autocrat. He allowed a multi-party system in the early 1990s, opening the way to strong political opposition from the Anglophone west.

"The system is built on a single individual and this individual is identified with the job," said Titus Edzoa, a former confidant of the president who was secretary general of Biya's presidency between 1994 and 1996 and held ministerial posts on several occasions.

"If you try to go against Biya, you'll be crushed," he said.

- 'In power for 35 years... that's talent' -

Edzoa should know. After resigning as a health minister in 1997 to stand in elections, he was arrested and accused of stealing millions of CFA francs. He spent 15 years behind bars.

Now a free man, he warns that by centring the system on Biya's personality "not only could the system implode, but so too could the whole of Cameroon" in the near future.

Oswald Baboke, the deputy director of the presidency, wrote in a book published in September that "Biya's fate seemed pre-determined" and "an opportunity given by God".

Higher Education Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo said: "We are all creatures and creations of President Paul Biya... we are his servants, or better still his slaves."

Biya's repeated long absences from Cameroon, mostly in Switzerland or in his home village in southern Cameroon, have been bitterly criticised.

According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a consortium of investigative journalists, Biya spent "at least four-and-a-half years of his 35 years in power on private visits" abroad.</s>Polls are opening in Cameroon as Africa’s oldest leader is widely expected to win another term as president.

Separatists have threatened to disrupt the election, and many people who have fled the unrest are unable to vote.

President Paul Biya, who has held office since 1982, has vowed to end the crisis.

The fractured opposition has been unable to rally behind a strong challenger to the 85-year-old.

A victory likely would come with a weakened mandate for Mr Biya as many residents of the troubled English-speaking south-west and north-west regions have fled elsewhere.

By law, voters can only cast a ballot in the community where they are registered.

Cameroon’s government has said that anyone who tries to organise chaos on election day “risks being disagreeably surprised”.</s>Content provided by APO Group. CNBC Africa provides content from APO Group as a service to its readers, but does not edit the articles it publishes. CNBC Africa is not responsible for the content provided by APO Group.

On Sunday, October 7, citizens across Cameroon bravely queued to vote in a momentous election. President Paul Biya, Africa’s oldest head of state, and in power since 1982, stood for a seventh term amid credible allegations of vote rigging (https://bit.ly/2y6BXHK), electoral fraud, targeted threats of violence, and an ongoing, bloody uprising in Anglophone regions. As expected, voter turnout was woefully low and the fleeting hopes of many — both in Cameroon and worldwide — were dashed by the highly visible and ominous presence of the country’s security forces – personnel who are widely perceived (https://bit.ly/2NKUGCj) as biased and loyal only to President Biya’s dictates.

One day after voting took place, Maurice Kamto, leader of the Renaissance Movement party — who joined a historic coalition (https://bit.ly/2C7dftg) with Akere Muna of the Popular Front for Development — declared victory (https://reut.rs/2pJVmcU), claiming he had “achieved his goal” and called on President Paul Biya to hand over power peacefully.

According to Cameroonian law, only the country’s Constitutional Council is allowed to announce official election results. While prematurely announcing victory, as Mr. Kamto has done, may allow a convenient pretext for additional and unnecessary violence on the part of government authorities, the penalty for remaining silent in the face of attempts to stifle democracy and impose the continued rule of a dictatorial regime may indeed be higher.

To be sure, reclaiming peace in Cameroon, and in turn, the Central African region, is of paramount importance today and moving forward. It is manifestly evident that the Biya government is both unwilling and incapable of achieving these necessary ends, which are being demanded by the country’s long beleaguered citizens, as well as neighboring countries (https://bit.ly/2kUGVQP). In light of these facts, we urge the Biya government and opposition leaders to commit to a mediated process of political dialogue with the aim of securing a genuine democratic transition, which is long overdue in Cameroon.

In the meantime, the international community and Cameroon’s development and security partners — including the United States and European Union — must demand that the Biya government respect the basic human rights and democratic aspirations of its citizens; and in so doing, refrain from the sort of truly horrendous abuses and overreach that has characterized (https://bit.ly/2y9dFfX) the Biya government for nearly four decades, and most brazenly over the past two years (https://bbc.in/2I8pIxX).

Only a genuine political transition can set Cameroon on a democratic path. We implore the country’s current leadership to embrace this fact and to once and for all unite a visibly damaged country at this critical time.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Vanguard Africa.</s>Cameroonians are heading to the polls in an election widely expected to extend the 36-year rule of President Paul Biya and confirm his place as one of Africa’s last multi-decade leaders.

Polls opened at 0800 local time in the Cameroon capital, Yaounde today and armed security could be seen stationed outside one school being used as a polling station.

A victory for Biya, who has ruled since 1982, would usher in a seventh term for the 85-year-old and see him stay until at least the age of 92, bucking a tentative trend in Africa where many countries have installed presidential term limits.

Looming over the polls is a secessionist uprising in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions that has cost hundreds of lives and forced thousands to flee either to the French-speaking regions or into neighbouring Nigeria.</s>Voting begins in Cameroon's decicive election, which is expected to extend the 36-year rule on President Paul Biya.</s>Voting started early in Cameroon on Sunday in crucial presidential polls being held against to decide the faith of 95-year-old President Paul Biya who is seeking another term after 36 years in office.

Biya has been the President of Cameroon since 6 November 1982.

He rose rapidly as a bureaucrat under President Ahmadou Ahidjo in the 1960s, serving as Secretary-General of the Presidency from 1968 to 1975.

He served as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1975 to 1982.

He succeeded Ahidjo as president upon the latter’s surprise resignation in 1982 and consolidated power in a 1983–1984.

Biya introduced political reforms within the context of a one-party system in the 1980s.

Under serious pressure, he accepted the introduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s.

The country has been facing agitation by the English speaking part, seeking for secession.

The Sunday presidential election is also being held against a backdrop of unprecedented violence in the country’s English-speaking regions, where citizens are clamouring for a breakaway.

“I’ve come early to avoid queues… I’ve done my civic duty, now we wait for the results,” said Joelle, 51, who was the second person to vote at the Bastos public school polling station in the capital Yaounde.</s>DOUALA, Cameroon - At least three armed separatists were shot dead by security forces in the city of Bamenda in northwest Cameroon as they tried to disrupt voting in the presidential election on Sunday, a security source said.

The report could not be independently verified and separatist leaders could not be reached for comment. Secessionist rebels have vowed to stop the polls from taking place in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

CAMEROON GOES TO THE POLLS AS BIYA SEEKS TO EXTEND 36-YEAR RULE

Polls opened in Cameroon on Sunday for an election widely expected to extend the 36-year rule of President Paul Biya and confirm his place as one of Africa’s last multi-decade leaders.

Victory would usher in a seventh term for the 85-year-old and see him stay until at least the age of 92, bucking a tentative trend in Africa where many countries have installed presidential term limits. The only current African president to have ruled longer is Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

While the oil and cocoa producing Central African country has seen economic growth of over 4 percent a year since Biya was last elected in 2011, many of its 24 million citizens live in deep poverty. Most have only known one president.

Looming over the polls is a secessionist uprising in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions that has cost hundreds of lives and forced thousands to flee either to the French-speaking regions or into neighbouring Nigeria. Ghost towns remain, where the few who have stayed say they are afraid to go out and vote.

Voting proceeded smoothly on Sunday in the French-speaking city of Douala and the capital of Yaounde.

However, in the Anglophone regional capital of Buea neither of two polling stations visited by a Reuters witness were operational as staff did not have sufficient electoral materials. Meanwhile 15 kilometres (9 miles) up the road in Ekona village, a convoy of military vehicles could not deliver materials to a polling station, because it was not staffed.

Some opposition parties have united in an effort to bolster support and harness discontent about the country’s crumbling infrastructure and about Biya, who they say has ruled Cameroon like a personal fiefdom for too long. The president goes years without convening cabinet meetings and spends long stretches out of the country with his wife Chantal, most often holidaying in Switzerland.

The odds, and history, are against the opposition, including the main candidate, Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front. In 2011, Biya won with 78 percent of the vote in an election that the U.S. Department of State described as “flawed” and “marked by irregularities.”

The opposition also faces the problem of voter apathy from a population resigned to a continuation of Biya’s long rule. Of the country’s 24 million people, only 6.5 million were registered as of Oct. 1, according to the election authority.

“We want a different president,” said teacher Christelle Cheddgou in Yaounde. “There are no roads, there is corruption. But only 6 million people are registered to vote. We are really tired. Thirty six years is too long and things are getting worse.”

The African Union and other organizations are monitoring Sunday’s vote, but opposition candidates have already complained of efforts to fix the election in Biya’s favour.

Biya’s home advantage is clear across the hilly, green capital, where thousands of posters lining the roadside and draped down the side of high-rise buildings declare “the force of experience” of the incumbent. Tailors sell fabric bearing Biya’s face that they make into dresses and suits seen all over town.

Billboards advertising other candidates are almost totally absent.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary on Saturday laughed off the idea of the opposition posing a threat to Biya.

“The likelihood of his victory is beyond reasonable doubt. I am confident that the game is already done,” he said.

Separatists have vowed to stop the polls from taking place in the English-speaking regions, home to 5 million people, about one-fifth of the population. Residents in those areas told Reuters that they would not vote anyway because of the insecurity.

In the northwest English-speaking town of Bamenda, a resident said he heard some gunfire in the town at about 8.20 am.

“I heard gunshots from my house just now. The streets and completely deserted,” he said, describing how poll staff had been escorted to polling stations by the military.

The crisis points to a central problem of Biya’s rule: his long bid to centralise a hugely diverse population in a country founded in 1961 on the promise of federalism and autonomy for its regions.

In 2016, Anglophone lawyers and teachers protested against the marginalisation of minority English speakers in their professions. The government’s heavy-handed clampdown, in which unarmed civilians were shot dead, radicalised many. Armed groups formed in the lush forests of the west.

Biya did not visit the English-speaking regions during his campaign. Spokesman Bakary said that the separatists were “daydreaming” if they thought they could stop the polls and that the government has put measures in place to ensure they go ahead.
Voters in Cameroon head to the polls. Incumbent President Paul Biya seeks a seventh term to his 36-year rule.