President Paul Biya, 92, has ruled Cameroon since 1982 and faces mounting controversy as he signals an intention to seek an unprecedented eighth term in the October 12, 2025, presidential election. A 2008 constitutional amendment he orchestrated removed presidential term limits, opening the path for Biya’s continued incumbency. Yet, what has historically been a tightly controlled party process within the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) is fracturing into open legal challenges, ministerial dissent, and breakaway candidacies, signs of both institutional decay and opportunistic realignment within the ruling elite.
A Legal Crack in the Party’s Façade
In late June 2025, Léon Theiller Onana, a municipal councilor and CPDM member from Monatélé, filed a petition with the Yaoundé Central Administrative Court demanding that Elections Cameroon (Elecam) declare Biya’s presidential bid invalid unless the CPDM first convened a proper party congress to endorse its candidate, as per the party’s constitution. Onana argues that by passing such a congress violates CPDM statutes, which safeguard internal democracy, and renders any unilateral endorsement illegitimate. This rare challenge, which appears to be the first of its kind from within the party’s lower echelons signals an unprecedented willingness to test the ruling party’s own rulebook in court.
Ministers Break Ranks
Simultaneously, senior CPDM figures have begun to voice frustration with Biya’s opaque decision-making and perceived absence from governance. Some officials have aired frustration over his persistent refusal to hold ministerial meetings. Over the past weeks, ministers and high-ranking officials have publicly questioned whether Biya’s candidacy serves as a distraction from pressing national issues such as rising unemployment, a violent separatist insurgency in the anglophone regions, and regional security threats from groups like Boko Haram. In particular, sources within Africanews report that government insiders describe the capital’s administration as “frozen” amid factional jockeying, with Biya largely absent from day-to-day leadership (Africanews). Such open dissent among a cohort that typically adheres to strict party discipline underscores deepening anxieties about the direction of both the regime and the nation.
The question of President Biya’s re-election bid took an unexpected turn last week when two senior ministers publicly contradicted one another. It began with René Sadi, the Minister of Communication, who told RFI that Biya’s candidacy for the forthcoming elections remained “unconfirmed” and that there was only a “50/50” chance he would run. Sadi’s remarks surprised and irked many in government, including Minister of Higher Education Fame Ndongo. In an immediate rebuttal, Ndongo issued a press release dismissing Sadi’s comments and asserting unequivocally that Biya was “the natural candidate” of the CPDM and that his candidacy was “100% confirmed.” Observers saw this clash as yet another sign of the growing fissures within the CPDM.
Allies Turn Competitors
No sooner had the legal and rhetorical attacks begun than two of Biya’s most senior allies publicly declared their own presidential ambitions without resigning their ministerial posts. On June 30, Bello Bouba Maigari, Tourism Minister and former prime minister, accepted the National Union for Democracy and Progress’s nomination to run for president, becoming the first high-profile defector from the party’s northern power bloc (Reuters). Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Minister of Employment and Vocational Training and another northern luminary, followed suit days earlier, formally resigning his government position to seek the presidency under the Cameroon National Salvation Front banner (France 24). These declarations not only fracture the historical alliance between Biya’s central government and the northern elites but also reveal ambitions that outgrow the traditional spoils of power-sharing.
Implications for CPDM Hegemony
For over four decades, the CPDM has monopolized Cameroon’s political landscape, co-opting dissent through patronage and occasionally violent repression. The convergence of legal petitions, ministerial mutiny, and breakaway candidacies exposes the limits of those mechanisms. The party’s once-immutable front is now a mosaic of competing factions, each racing to solidify their own networks of influence. The spectacle of sitting ministers campaigning against the incumbent president whom they once hailed as the guarantor of stability represents a watershed moment in Cameroonian politics.
An Opening for the Opposition
The CPDM’s implosion provides fertile ground for the opposition, led by figures such as Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC). Kamto has decried any attempt to delay or manipulate the 2025 election, warning that postponement would amount to “an electoral coup d’état” and could “trigger the legitimate defense of the people”. With the ruling party preoccupied by internal strife, and struggling to re-strategize following the recent ruptures, the opposition coalitions are exploring a joint ticket to maximize their chances against Biya or his anointed successor. While the formation of a unified opposition front remains fraught, as it has always been traditionally impossible to unite the opposition, given ideological differences and leadership rivalries, the disarray within the CPDM lends momentum to calls for generational change. There signs of party members willing to pressure their leaders into some form of coalition, as it remains the only viable means to unseat Biya and the CPDM party.
Institutional Credibility at Stake
Beyond electoral arithmetic, the infighting raises critical questions about the credibility of Cameroon’s democratic institutions. International observers have long decried irregularities in Cameroonian elections, and the spectacle of the ruling party’s internal lawsuits and public quarrels may reinforce perceptions of a hollow democracy. If the Elecam adjudicates Onana’s petition or dismisses it, it will set a precedent for judicial independence or party dominance. Likewise, the response of the CPDM’s National Executive Committee to Bouba Maigari’s and Tchiroma Bakary’s candidacies will test the party’s ability to enforce discipline or reveal an irreversible splintering.
The Road Ahead
As the nation approaches the October vote, three scenarios emerge: Biya secures the CPDM nomination unopposed, leveraging state resources to reinforce his grip; he steps aside in favour of a younger CPDM figure, seeking to manage succession; or the party fractures irreparably, handing the opposition an opening. Each path carries profound implications. A unilateral Biya nomination would likely provoke further internal revolt and international criticism. A managed handover might mitigate immediate tensions but could spark a power struggle among competing elites, as some members of the current administration are already being suspected of positioning themselves for the top job. A party collapse could fundamentally alter Cameroon’s political order, potentially ushering in a more pluralistic but volatile era.
Conclusion
The controversy over Paul Biya’s candidacy and the CPDM’s internal rebellion is more than a power struggle; it is a barometer of Cameroon’s political health. What began as procedural dispute over party statutes has rippled outward, exposing the fragility of a regime long sustained by patrimonial networks. Whether this crisis culminates in reform or descent into deeper factionalism will determine not only the outcome of the 2025 election but the trajectory of Cameroonian governance for years to come.
