91-year-old President of Cameroon has put forward his candidacy for a new term

Cameroon's constitution does not limit the number of terms or the age of the head of state, and the president there is elected for 7 years.

On February 13, Paul Biya will turn 92, making him currently the oldest incumbent head of state on the planet. Following him are 89-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and 88-year-old Pope Francis, head of the dwarf state Vatican City. There is also, however, 89-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but the status of this country as a sovereign state and subject of international law is, as is well known, questionable.

As for Paul Biya, since Cameroon gained independence in 1960, he is only the second ruler of this country. Before him, Ahmadou Ahidjo ruled continuously for 22 years, under whom Biya was Prime Minister since 1975. However, reportedly due to health reasons, Ahidjo conducted a transition of power, handing it over to Paul Biya on November 4, 1982.

Just a year later, Biya removed his predecessor from all positions and accused him of preparing a military coup. Consequently, Ahmadou Ahidjo had to go into exile, and at home, he was sentenced in absentia to death, which was commuted to life imprisonment. In 1989, he died in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, and two years later, Biya officially rehabilitated and even honored him. Now, for example, a stadium in Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, is named after Ahmadou Ahidjo.

And Paul Biya has not loosened his grip since that fateful transition for Ahmadou Ahidjo.

By total length of time in power, he is currently, by the way, surpassed only by 78-year-old King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who has been on the throne since September 15, 1973, and 82-year-old President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, who has been in office since August 3, 1979. If we consider that the Swedish king is only nominally the head of the country, then among actual rulers, Paul Biya is firmly in second place.

Surprisingly, the President of Cameroon has not yet established close contacts with another political long-liver, Alexander Lukashenka. This might be because the Cameroonian regime, since the Cold War, has been oriented towards maintaining good relations with the West, and Paul Biya is currently not a pro-Russian leader. However, Lukashenka also had no particular contacts with Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo until two years ago, so perhaps everything is still ahead with Paul Biya too, especially given the current great attention to the African vector.

In the last elections in 2018, Paul Biya's result, by the way, was quite "decent" for an African dictator with such a tenure — "only" 71.28%. But, of course, there's no talk of the freedom and democracy of these elections.

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