The world’s oldest president, Mr Paul Biya of Cameroon, has won the country’s presidential election, granting him his eighth term of rule that will keep him in office till almost 100 years old.
The Constitutional Council said on Monday that the 92-year-old incumbent had secured more than 53 per cent of the vote in the October 12 election.
The victor means that could keep him in office until he is well over 99 years old, according to official results announced today by the Central African country’s electoral body.
“I hereby proclaimed President-elect: the candidate Biya Paul,” said Mr Clement Atangana, president of the Constitutional Council.
Mr Biya, 92, took office in 1982 and has held a tight grip on power ever since.
He has also changed the country’s electoral laws by removing presidential term limit in 2008 and winning reelection by comfortable margins over the years.
He defeated his former minister, Mr Issac Tchiroma Bakery, who came second with 35.2 per cent.
The election was marred by violence as clashes with security forces left at least four protesters dead ahead of the announcement as opposition supporters rallied to demand credible results.
Mr Biya is rarely seen in Cameroon and he reportedly rules the country from Switzerland.
Under his administration, Cameroon continues to battle a decade long separatist insurgency in its English-speaking parts, while unemployment stands at 40 per cent for people under the age of 35, among other issues.
He has also enjoyed praises including expansion of schools and public universities and the handling of the Bakassi dispute with Nigeria, which saw the country win the oil-rich peninsula under the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria.