Issa Tchiroma Bakary on Friday urged the opposition to boycott parliamentary and local elections to be held next year, which he said would be an “electoral masquerade”.

President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state, announced the polls would be held on February 7 — the first ballots since the veteran leader was reelected in contested elections last year.

Biya, 93, has ruled the country since 1982, but his reelection was rejected by the opposition and led to demonstrations violently suppressed by the authorities.

“I solemnly call upon the political parties of the Cameroonian opposition: do not participate in this electoral masquerade and do not lend your support to yet another confiscation of popular sovereignty,” Tchiroma wrote in a statement published on social media on Friday.

Last month, authorities suspended Tchiroma’s party, the Cameroon National Salvation Front (FSNC).

The defeated 2025 opposition presidential candidate continues to claim victory in the election from The Gambia where he lives in exile.

He criticises the body responsible for organising the elections and the constitutional council, charging they are both in thrall to the regime.

Tchiroma argued that retaining the institutions responsible for supervising the polls and leaving the electoral code unchanged would not guarantee the transparency of the vote and vowed to help prevent the election from going ahead.

The presidential election in October 2025 saw Biya declared winner with 53.66 percent of the vote, to 35.19 percent for Tchiroma, according to official results, triggering protests that were violently suppressed.

The authorities acknowledged several dozen deaths but did not provide a definitive toll.

Source: AFP