{"id":98446,"date":"2025-10-14T04:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T04:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98446"},"modified":"2025-10-14T04:43:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T04:43:00","slug":"cameroon-opposition-candidate-tchiroma-claims-victory-in-presidential-poll-urges-biya-to-concede","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98446","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon opposition candidate Tchiroma claims victory in presidential poll, urges Biya to concede"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cameroon opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma declared victory late on Monday in the country\u2019s October 12 presidential election, urging President Paul Biya to accept defeat and \u201chonour the truth of the ballot box\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur victory is clear. It must be respected,\u201d Tchiroma said in a speech on his Facebook page from his hometown of Garoua in the north of the Central African state. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe people have chosen. And this choice must be respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tchiroma, 76, a former government spokesperson and employment minister, broke ranks with Biya earlier this year and mounted a campaign that drew large crowds and endorsements from a coalition of opposition parties and civic groups.<\/p>\n

Biya, 92, the world\u2019s oldest serving head of state, is seeking an eighth term after 43 years in power. Analysts had expected his control over state institutions and a fragmented opposition to give him an edge in the election, despite growing public discontent over economic stagnation and insecurity.<\/p>\n

Tchiroma praised voters for defying intimidation and staying at polling stations late into the night to protect their ballots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also thank candidates who have already sent me their congratulations and recognised the will of the people,\u201d Tchiroma said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have placed the regime before its responsibilities: either it shows greatness by accepting the truth of the ballot box, or it chooses to plunge the country into turmoil that will leave an indelible scar in the heart of our nation,\u201d he warned<\/p>\n

The government has not officially responded to Tchiroma\u2019s declaration.<\/p>\n

However, Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji warned over the weekend that any unilateral publication of results would be considered \u201chigh treason,\u201d adding that only the Constitutional Council has the authority to announce the winner.<\/p>\n

Cameroon\u2019s electoral law allows results to be published and posted at polling stations, but final tallies must be validated by the Constitutional Council, which has until October 26 to announce the outcome.<\/p>\n

Tchiroma said he would soon release a region-by-region breakdown of vote tallies compiled from publicly posted results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis victory is not that of one man, nor of one party. It is the victory of a people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also called on the military, security forces and government administrators to remain loyal to the \u201crepublic, not the regime\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cameroon\u2019s single-round electoral system awards the presidency to the candidate with the most votes. More than 8 million people were registered to vote in the election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"CameroonCameroon opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma declared victory late on Monday in the country’s October 12 presidential election, urging President Paul Biya to accept defeat and “honour the truth of the ballot box”.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972,4841,10440,3167,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-cameroon","category-issa-tchiroma","category-paul-biya","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}