World's oldest president could extend his rule as Cameroon votes in an election

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Cameroon voted in an election Sunday that could see Africa’s oldest leader extend his rule by another seven years.

Analysts have predicted a victory for President Paul Biya. Now 92, he would be 99 by the time his term finishes. He first came to power in 1982 following the resignation of Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, and has ruled the country since then. Biya was declared the winner of seven subsequent elections. Cameroon has seen just two leaders since independence in 1960.

However, cracks may be appearing in Biya's image.

His health has routinely been a topic of speculation as he spends most of his time in Europe, leaving day-to-day governing to key party officials and family members.

Dr. Benjamin Akih, an activist and professor at Syracuse University, believes that the opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary may win due to Biya's age and his long track record of running Cameroon.

“⁠I think this election is different. Mr. Biya was the weakest candidate the CPDM could put forward on account of his age and the poor state of the country after his 43 years in power," he said.

“In the face of increasingly difficult international environment, the challenges facing us are more and more pressing,” Biya said in announcing another run. “In such a situation, I cannot shirk my mission.”

Biya faces nine opposition candidates, including some former allies and appointees. They include Bello Bouba Maigari, who was minister for tourism, and Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who until recently served as the minister of employment.

Biya voted at a primary school in the capital Yaounde, telling reporters that he wouldn't comment on his plans until the results were in.

Results are expected at the latest by Oct. 26.

Joshua Osih, an opposition candidate for president for the Social Democratic Front and a member of parliament who came fourth in the 2018 election, told The Associated Press his party was worried about voter fraud but stressed that the process of counting the votes will be long.

“There is still a lot of room for progress to make things smoother. Unfortunately, the bottlenecks as we usually say are the multiple ballots instead of single ballots and also the fact that the process is really cumbersome,” said Osih. "The system makes it such that the elections cannot be free and fair, that we know."

There is a single round of voting in Cameroon and whoever gets the most votes is the winner.

Cheukam Ginette, a 34-year-old environmentalist and first-time voter, said she won't choose Biya.

“Things have to change. First of all, life is expensive, getting medical care is not easy," she said outside of a polling station in Yaounde. "There are no roads, we have potholes everywhere. Everything is ruined. That’s why I voted for the opposition. I do not have confidence in the electoral process because we know our country but I’m hopeful.”

At a campaign rally last week in the northern city of Maroua, Biya promised change for one of Cameroon’s poorest areas. The predominantly Muslim north accounts for nearly 20% of the eligible voters, and Maigari and Bakary command strong followings there.

Cameroon faces escalating security crises. In the western region, a secessionist war is being fought between mainly English-speaking separatists who claim they are marginalized by the French-speaking majority, and government forces. In the north, the Boko Haram insurgency spills over from neighboring Nigeria, with armed groups routinely attacking border towns.

At least 43% of the population live in poverty as measured by core living standards such as income, education and health, according to U.N. estimates.

Around 8 million voters, including over 34,000 overseas, are eligible to vote at more than 31,000 polling stations in the Central African nation. Cameroon has a population of over 29 million people, a majority overwhelmingly young.

McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal.

Protesters run as security forces use water cannons to disperse them during clashes in Garoua, Cameroon, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2025 (AP Photo/Welba Yamo Pascal)

Presidential opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma casts his ballot at a polling station in Garoua, Cameroon, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025 (AP Photo / Welba Yamo Pascal

Presidential opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma arrives to casts his ballot at a polling station in Garoua, Cameroon, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025 (AP Photo / Welba Yamo Pascal)

President Paul Biya casts his ballot at the Government Bilingual primary school Bastos in Yaounde, Cameroon, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2025 (AP Photo/Angel Ngwe)

A man casts his ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Garoua, Cameroon, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Welba Yamo Pascal)

A woman casts her ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Garoua, Cameroon, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025(AP Photo/ Welba Yamo Pascal)

A woman casts her ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Garoua, Cameroon, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Welba Yamo Pascal)

Election officials set up ballot materials before the start of voting at a polling station in Garoua, Cameroon, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Welba Yamo Pascal)

Stacks of ballot papers bearing the faces of presidential candidates are displayed on a table at a polling station before voting begins in Garoua, Cameroon, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Welba Yamo Pascal)

Election officials arrange stacks of ballot papers before the start of voting at a polling station in Garoua, Cameroon, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Welba Yamo Pascal)

Presidential opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma, speaks to the press in Maroua, Cameroon, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Welba Yamo Pascal)

Cameroon's President Paul Biya and First Lady Chantal Biya attend a political rally at Lamido Yaya Dairou Stadium in Maroua, Cameroon, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Welba Yamo Pascal)

HAMIMA, Syria (AP) — A trickle of civilians left a contested area east of Aleppo on Thursday after a warning by the Syrian military to evacuate ahead of an anticipated government military offensive against Kurdish-led forces.

Government officials and some residents who managed to get out said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces prevented people from leaving via the corridor designated by the military along the main road leading west from the town of Maskana through Deir Hafer to the town of Hamima.

The SDF denied the reports that they were blocking the evacuation.

In Hamima, ambulances and government officials were gathered beginning early in the morning waiting to receive the evacuees and take them to shelters, but few arrived.

Farhat Khorto, a member of the executive office of Aleppo Governorate who was waiting there, claimed that there were "nearly two hundred civilian cars and hundreds of people who wanted to leave” the Deir Hafer area but that they were prevented by the SDF. He said the SDF was warning residents they could face “sniping operations or booby-trapped explosives” along that route.

Some families said they got out of the evacuation zone by taking back roads or going part of the distance on foot.

“We tried to leave this morning, but the SDF prevented us. So we left on foot … we walked about seven to eight kilometers until we hit the main road, and there the civil defense took us and things were good then,” said Saleh al-Othman, who said he fled Deir Hafer with more than 50 relatives.

Yasser al-Hasno, also from Deir Hafer, said he and his family left via back roads because the main routes were closed and finally crossed a small river on foot to get out of the evacuation area.

Another Deir Hafer resident who crossed the river on foot, Ahmad al-Ali, said, “We only made it here by bribing people. They still have not allowed a single person to go through the main crossing."

Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the SDF, said the allegations that the group had prevented civilians from leaving were “baseless.” He suggested that government shelling was deterring residents from moving.

The SDF later issued a statement also denying that it had blocked civilians from fleeing. It said that “any displacement of civilians under threat of force by Damascus constitutes a war crime" and called on the international community to condemn it.

“Today, the people of Deir Hafer have demonstrated their unwavering commitment to their land and homes, and no party can deprive them of their right to remain there under military pressure,” it said.

The Syrian army’s announcement late Wednesday — which said civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday — appeared to signal plans for an offensive against the SDF in the area east of Aleppo. Already there have been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides.

Thursday evening, the military said it would extend the humanitarian corridor for another day.

The Syrian military called on the SDF and other armed groups to withdraw to the other side of the Euphrates River, to the east of the contested zone. The SDF controls large swaths of northeastern Syria east of the river.

The tensions in the Deir Hafer area come after several days of intense clashes last week in Aleppo city that ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters and government forces taking control of three contested neighborhoods.

The fighting broke out as negotiations have stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached last March to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.

Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, which was formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The SDF for years has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkey.

Despite the long-running U.S. support for the SDF, the Trump administration has also developed close ties with the government of interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and has so far avoided publicly taking sides in the clashes in Aleppo.

Ilham Ahmed, head of foreign relations for the SDF-affiliated Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, at a press conference Thursday said SDF officials were in contact with the United States and Turkey and had presented several initiatives for de-escalation. She said that claims by Damascus that the SDF had failed to implement the March agreement were false.

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Associated Press journalist Hogir Al Abdo in Qamishli, Syria, contributed.

Members of the Syrian military police stand at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Members of the Syrian Civil Defense, stand next to their vehicles at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A displaced Syrian family rides in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army next to a river in the village of Rasm Al-Abboud, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrian children and women ride in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Syrians at a river crossing near the village of Jarirat al Imam, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)