By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Cameroon’s Constitutional Council has declared 92-year-old President Paul Biya as winner of the country’s October 12 presidential election.
This extends his 42-year rule to nearly half a decade. Biya will be 99 when his seven-year tenure will come to an end in 2032.
According to the Constitutional Council, Biya secured 53.66% of the votes against Issa Tchiroma, who obtained 35.19%.
The results were officially declared on Monday after weeks of tension.
Earlier, four people were killed in clashes between security forces and supporters of a Cameroon opposition leader who claims to have won, authorities said ahead of the announcement of official results.
Tchiroma, who challenged President Paul Biya’s grip on power had called on his supporters to march peacefully on the eve of the announcement, despite a ban on public gatherings.
Since last week, supporters of Issa Tchiroma, who according to his own tally won 54.8 per cent of the votes against 31.3 per cent for Biya, have taken to the streets to defend his claimed victory.
However, most analysts expected Biya to win an eighth term in a system his critics say has been increasingly rigged.
In Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, the regional governor said demonstrators “attacked” a gendarmerie brigade and police stations in two districts on Sunday.
“Four people, unfortunately, lost their lives,” said Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, adding that several members of the security forces were also injured.
Protesters at the scene showed AFP journalists bullet casings they said they collected after security forces fired shots near the gendarmerie.
The shooting with “live ammunition” began after a volley of tear gas, a demonstrator told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“They fired, three people, three bodies fell in front of us,” he said.
