Sema Fonkem 27/07/2025

Cameroon’s Electoral Commission (ELECAM) has banned opposition leader Maurice Kamto from running in the upcoming October 12 2025 presidential election.

Kamto, led Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) party that came second in the 2018 presidential election with 14% vote. Ever since then, his relationship with the president Paul Biya’s regime has become sour with two arrests and one incarceration.

Kamto’s former party, CRM has not been performing well at the municipal level and with only a few seats in parliament, it was not allowed to endorse a candidate for the presidential election this year. To save his political career in turmoil, he rushed to join communist party, New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM). This will be met by a huge in the face as his candidacy will be denied.

The exact reason for Kamto’s exclusion from the electoral list has not been made public by ELECAM. Every rejected aspirant is given 48 hours to appeal.

Out of 83 applicants, only 13 were granted permission to proceed with their campaigns.

Resigning from CRM on the 25th June 2025 to join MANIDEM just barely a night before the final electoral list is announced is a desperate move by a politician. It is expected that after CRM was not allowed to provide a candidate, Kamto would sit back, strategise, and continue to build up CRM party which he established in 2012. Crossing over CRM members to MANIDEM under Anicet Ekane’s leadership is not feasible at this particular time when the road to presidential election is reaching its climax.

List of accepted candidates

Name	Political party
Joshua Osih	Social Democratic Front (SDF)
Akere Tabeng Muna	Univers
Paul Biya	Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM)
Hiram Iyodi Samuel	Cameroon Democratic Front (CDF)
Ateki Seta Caxton	Alliance Liberal Party (ALP)
Cabral Libii	Parti Camerounais pour la Reconciliation Nationale (PCRN)
Serge Espoir Matomba	Union des Mouvements Socialistes (UMS)
Bello Bouba Maigara	Union Nationale pour la Democratie et le Progres (UNDP)
Issa Tchiroma Bakary	Front pour le Salut National du Cameroun (FSNC)
Kwemo Pierre	Union des Mouvements Socialistes UMS)
Tomaino Ndam Njoya	Cameroon Democratic Union (CDU)
Dzapan Hilaire Marcaire	Mouvement Progressiste (MP)
Jacques Bouhga Hagbe	Mouvement Citoyen National Camerounais (MCNC)