“Democracy does not die in a day; it dies each time the people’s voice is ignored.”

Democracy at a Crossroads

I called my friend in Yaounde to find out how he’s doing and how the atmosphere was. “Tense!” That was his response.

He made me understand that there’s danger looming, people are uncertain what the next few days will look like, every minute feels pregnant and fear is palpable as things keep getting worse. People seem to have put their plans on hold as they wait for the results of the 2025 presidential elections to be announced by the Constitutional Council.

Cameroonians went to the pool on October 12, 2025 to vote the president of the Republic. The Constitutional Council had approved 12 candidates to run for the election. The incumbent, Paul Biya representing the Cameroon People Democratic Movement (CPDM), has been in power for 43 years and is 92 years old while Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a former Minister of Biya’s government, is 76 and represents the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC).

Though an underdog from the onset, Tchiroma challenged cynics and became the people’s favourite in the course of the campaign. It should be noted that the people rallying behind and supporting Tchiroma openly state that they don’t like him due to statements he once made and how heavy-handed he was while serving as the Minister of Communication for Biya’s government.

For instance, in 2017 on Equinox TV, Tchiroma said that there was no Anglophone problem in Cameroon and that the military were professionals and had never killed anyone, despite all the killings that were going on in the English-speaking part of Cameroon, with video footages of the military shooting and killing unarmed civilians.

Notre Bon Diable

Tchiroma begged for forgiveness and most of the people seemed to believe and forgive him. Do the people think Tchiroma is better than Paul Biya? No! On social media, his sympathizers commonly refer to him as “notre bon diable”, which in English literally translates as “our good devil”.

Their argument is simple: “we don’t trust Tchiroma and we don’t think he’s better than Biya. But we believe that as someone who’s dined with the system for over two decades, he’s the right crook for the job of taking down Biya. Once Biya is out, we’ll deal with Tchiroma.” Simply put, most Cameroonians, fed up with the current regime and thirsty for change, decided to form an alliance with one devil to kick out a more dangerous devil.

Electoral Malpractice Amidst War

The October 12 election was riddled with fraud and irregularities, all of them coming from the ruling party. These are not mere allegations as there are several videos and images, as well as testimonies from representatives on how they got bribed. In the South-West and North-West regions, most people could not vote due to Ghost Towns imposed by separatists and gunshots from the military.

However, CPDM was able to record a landslide win in these war-torn regions. And the question on every lip has been the same: “how did Biya win overwhelmingly in a region that’s been fighting his government for the past 9 years?” In Tchiroma’s words, “How can one fight a regime at the price of their life and reward the same regime with their vote?”

Interestingly, no one has been sanctioned so far for election malpractice though the Cameroon Electoral Code makes it clear that any official from Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) who engages in corrupt practices can have their mandate terminated in addition to other penalties.

Who Wins?

Despite the current regime’s threats, Issa Tchiroma has already declared himself winner of the presidential election and is calling on Paul Biya to peacefully step down for a smooth transition. Issa Tchiroma seems unfazed by the threats and massive rigging of the election by the ruling party. He took it upon himself to put together and publish the results of 18 swing Divisions as obtained directly from the pooling stations. For every Division published, a Google drive link is made available where all scanned copies of pooling station reports and other details for the said Division can be found.  

Based on these 18 Divisions, Issa Tchiroma after posting all the results on his official Facebook page – Tchiroma 2025 – declared himself the winner with 54.8% while Biya had 31.3%. It is also important to note that some participants of the National Vote Counting Commission already unofficially declared Biya the winner, too.

Cameroonians Wait for the Constitutional Council to Pronounce their Fate

On October 27, 2025, the Constitutional Council presided over by Clément Atangana will proclaim the official results of the 2025 presidential elections as submitted by the National Vote Counting Commission. Most Cameroonians think that the Biya regime has rigged the election and there’s been growing tension as to what would happen if Biya is actually declared the winner. There’s been so much awareness-raising campaigns by government officials, local authorities, religious leaders and other to dissuade young people from protesting regardless of what the outcome of the election is.

On October 21, 2025, young people in Garoua – Tchiroma’s hometown – started protesting. Two people were shot dead and it is alleged that the gendarmes opened fire on unarmed protesters and did this. What will happen October 27 as the Constitutional Council proclaims the result remains unknown.

As the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) recently warned, “the conditions for a credible election in Cameroon remain compromised by institutional bias and lack of trust.”

If this election gets rigged, Cameroon risks entrenching what scholars describe as “electoral authoritarianism” – a system where elections occur regularly but never truly offer choice.

Cameroon: A Democracy that Died at Birth

In the heart of Central Africa, Cameroon once held the promise of a democracy in the making. At independence, its founding leaders envisioned a republic that would unite diverse regions, languages, and peoples under a shared dream of equality and justice. Yet six decades later, that promise has withered. What remains is a nation where elections have become rituals of control, where dissent is punished, and where the wounds of exclusion have spilled into war.

The Election That Broke a Nation’s Faith (1992)

Cameroon’s democratic story took a pivotal turn in 1992, the year of its first multi-party presidential election since independence. The air was thick with hope. After years of one-party rule, citizens lined up to vote, believing they were witnessing history. The main opposition leader, John Fru Ndi, a charismatic leader from the Social Democratic Front (SDF), energized millions across the country.

But when results were announced, disappointment quickly turned to disbelief. Official tallies declared President Paul Biya the winner with a narrow margin, yet international observers and local monitors reported serious irregularities. The National Democratic Institute (NDI) noted that “the process lacked transparency and failed to reflect the people’s will.” Fru Ndi himself was placed under house arrest, and protests were violently suppressed.

That moment – when a nation saw its ballot betrayed – was when democracy in Cameroon began to falter. Many citizens remember 1992 not only as a political defeat but as the loss of faith in the very idea that votes could change anything.

Government officials have later in newspapers and on television channels openly admitted to actively taking part in rigging the 1992 presidential elections in favour of Paul Biya who came second in the race. And they do this with impunity.

Echoes of 2018: The Cycle of Distrust

Fast forward to 2018, and the same script seemed to replay. This time, opposition leader Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) emerged as a serious contender. His message – calling for institutional reform, justice, and inclusiveness – resonated deeply with younger generations weary of corruption and unemployment.

But once again, hope met the machinery of control. Election observers from the African Union and Transparency International documented irregularities ranging from restricted access for monitors to the misuse of state resources and intimidation of opposition agents. Like Fru Ndi in 1992, Kamto also placed under house arrest for months after protesting the results.

A young Cameroonian student interviewed by The Guardian in 2019 summed up the national mood:

“We vote, but nothing changes. It feels like a movie we’ve seen too many times.”

This pervasive cynicism is more than political fatigue; it’s a fracture in the social contract. When citizens lose faith in democracy, they turn away – from the ballot, from institutions, and sometimes, from the nation itself.

When Voices Are Silenced, Conflicts Erupt

The failure of democracy in Cameroon is not confined to ballot boxes. It is also written in the blood and displacement of the North West and South West regions, where a nine-year conflict continues to rage on.

What began in 2016 as peaceful protests by lawyers and teachers seeking respect for the English legal and educational systems escalated into armed conflict after the government’s violent response. Since then, more than 6,000 people have been killed, and over 700,000 displaced, according to Human Rights Watch and OCHA.

The war’s roots lie in a deeper crisis of governance: the state’s unwillingness to listen. For years, English-speaking Cameroonians have decried exclusion from decision-making, unequal distribution of resources, and linguistic marginalization. Yet dialogue efforts have remained superficial – conferences without sincerity, promises without follow-through.

As one displaced teacher from Bamenda told Deutsche Welle in 2023:

“We asked to be heard, not to be hunted. We wanted dialogue, not destruction.”

True democracy is not only about elections – it is about listening. When a government fails to listen, it pushes citizens towards despair and sometimes towards arms.

Leadership as Service, Not Power

Cameroon’s tragedy is that its leaders have too often mistaken power for service. In its truest form, leadership the duty of listening and not the art of ruling. It is measured not by how long one stays in office, but by how much one uplifts the people. In leadership, impact, and not longevity, should be the key word.

The Cameroonian clergy captured this sentiment in a 2020 pastoral letter:

“A government that fears its people cannot serve them. A government that silences dissent cannot unite them.”

This moral truth stands above politics. Across Africa, nations like Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa have shown that democratic renewal is possible when institutions are strengthened and citizens are respected. Just like these nations, Cameroon, too, can rise again – but only if its leaders rediscover humility and its citizens reclaim their agency.

A Regional and Global Wake-Up Call

Cameroon’s democratic erosion is not an isolated tragedy. It reflects a wider African and global trend where democratic backsliding has become the norm. According to Freedom House’s 2024 Democracy Index, 17 of 54 African countries are now rated “Not Free,” while others face rising authoritarian consolidation under the guise of stability.

For the international community – especially organizations like the African Union, United Nations, and European Union – Cameroon’s situation should serve as a moral test. Silence or “strategic patience” in the face of democratic decay only emboldens repression.

As Kofi Annan once said, “No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Both are processes that must be nurtured.”

The nurturing of democracy requires not only fair elections but justice, dialogue, and accountability – principles that Cameroon’s citizens continue to demand at great personal risk.

The People Still Believe

Despite everything they’ve been through, Cameroonians have not given up. The youth were more involved in the just-ended 2025 presidential election than they’ve ever been. Unlike before, many youth registered to vote, went to the pools to vote and stayed there to protect their votes. Across social media platforms, the voice of change has been championed by the youth, too. Across towns and villages, youth movements, journalists, women’s cooperatives, and faith groups continue to call for change. In Douala, student-led civic groups run voter education workshops. These acts of courage – often unnoticed – are the real heartbeat of democracy.

As one activist told Cameroon News Agency:

“They can rig the count, but they can’t rig our conscience.”

It is this spirit of resilience that gives hope that Cameroon’s democracy, though wounded, is not dead. It can still heal – if the truth is faced and justice restored.

A Call for Renewal

Democracy in Cameroon can still be reclaimed, but only through bold and sincere steps:

1. Independent electoral reform, ensuring transparent processes and neutral institutions.
2. Genuine and inclusive national dialogue that addresses the Anglophone crisis, led by trusted mediators and open to all voices.
3. Protection of civic space, freeing journalists, opposition figures, and human rights defenders from intimidation.
4. International solidarity, not as interference but as partnership, to support accountability and good governance.

Cameroon’s story is not one of inevitable failure – it is a warning, and a call. A warning of what happens when power deafens itself, and a call to rediscover leadership as service.

As Nelson Mandela said, “Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.”

Cameroon’s leaders, as well as all who care for the future of Africa, must always remember this. Because when democracy fails, it is not only the ballot that dies; it is the nation’s soul.