Cameroon’s president secures support to postpone legislative and local elections

Legislators approved Cameroonian President Paul Biya’s request on Tuesday to postpone municipal and parliamentary elections until 2026. Opposition parties worry that this will make it more difficult for them to confront Biya in the upcoming presidential election.

With a majority in the National Assembly, lawmakers from the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement in Biya approved a bill extending their term of office by one year, till March 2026.

Consequently, following the 2025 presidential election will be the parliamentary elections as well as the local elections that are typically held concurrently with them.

The country in central Africa had four elections, including regional council elections, planned for the following year; however, François Wakata Bolvine, the minister delegate for the presidency in charge of contacts with the legislatures, stated that the postponement was necessary to “lighten the electoral calendar”.

One of the presidents from Africa with the longest tenure is Biya, 91. President Ahmadou Ahidjo was replaced by him in 1982. Since then, he has won several elections, the most recent of which being a 2018 poll that his rivals deemed to be rigged.

The Social Democratic Front (SDF) party head and opposition MP Joshua Osih declared in a press conference that postponing the elections was wholly undemocratic.

He declared, “The SDF is vehemently opposed.”

Since there will be municipal and legislative elections next year, many in the opposition worry that the extension will make it harder to confront Biya. This is because they may have gained momentum ahead of October 2025’s presidential election.

A presidential candidate may only be proposed by a political party with representation in the National Assembly, Senate, Regional Council, or Municipal Council, or by a suggestion from a minimum of 300 dignitaries, according to the electoral legislation.

The primary opponent of Biya in 2018, Maurice Kamto, lacks such representation because his party abstained from the most recent municipal and legislative elections due to the absence of electoral reforms.