From the ever-grinding machine of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM party of incumbent Paul Biya to newcomer Hiram Samuel Iyodi of the Democratic Front of Cameroon, the 11 candidates have fully released their strongest weapons targeting nationwide coverage in bids to woe voters as the race to become the next occupant of the Unity Palace’s top office nears crescendo.
The 2025 Presidential Election race is steadily driving towards full-blown crescendo point as the 12 candidates unleash their arsenals seeking to win millions of voters’ hearts days into last Saturday’s start of the campaign window of the Sunday October 12 poll.
From the ever-grinding machine of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM party of incumbent Paul Biya, to newcomer Hiram Samuel Iyodi of the Democratic Front of Cameroon, the candidates have taken the country by storm, marketing promises and ideologies in bids to woe voters as they set sights on the Unity Palace plum job. The CPDM of incumbent Paul Biya who is seeking to extend his over four-decade stay in the Unity Palace, has been unsurprisingly leading the race.
The party’s bigwigs, including former Prime Minister Philemon Yang, his immediate successor, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, all hit the ground running over the weekend as they launched the CPDM’s campaign across the 10 regions.
While former Prime Minister Philemon Yang and CPDM Senator, Elizabeth Regina Mundi flagged off the exercise in Bamenda in the North West Region and presented Biya as the only trustworthy party that the region’s population must align with to guarantee what they described as the zone’s continuous growth, Prime Minister Chief Joseph Dion Ngute led the race in launching the same exercise in Buea for the South West Region.
Up in the Far North Region, Honorable Cavaye Yeguie Djibril reechoed similar messages to the population, restating the need for the population of the locality to renew its fruitful loyalty to Biya by going all out on October 12 and voting the incumbent who is running under the slogan “Greatness and Hope. The Septennate of Great Hopes”.
The party’s other bigwigs brought to the fore familiar rhetoric across the seven other regions where campaign rallies were organized at the various regional capitals and down to the divisional and subregional levels.
Tchiroma and Bello leading race among opposition candidates
Among the 11 oppositions, the race is notably led by former longtime allies of incumbent Biya; Issa Tchiroma Bakary of the Cameroon National Salvation Front, FSNC party and Bello Bouba Maigari of the National Union for Democracy and Progress, UNDP party. Tchiroma launched his campaign yesterday in Yagoua in the Mayo-Danay Division of the Far North Region during a crowd-pulling event.
The former Minister of Communication and of Employment and Vocational Training, in the course of the outing, urged voters to be objective. Tchiroma Bakary, like he has consistently done since he announced his breakaway from Biya in July this year, promised to address the country’s economic situation where notably cited what he described as poor living condition, insecurity challenges, poor infrastructures and other social and political limitations that have been recorded during the Biya regime.
The groundbreaking campaign launch in the Far North Region marked the official start of what had been a mouthwatering journey for Tchiroma in the presidential election journey. Before the start of the exercise, the outspoken former Communication boss had earlier held crowd-pulling outings across several parts of the country during the pre-campaign period of the electoral period.
The FSNC leader pulled thousands of supporters and sympathizers in Bertoua in the East Region early last month where he made one of his biggest outings since the start of the 2025 Unity Palace race. Tchiroma made a similar outing in the West Region the man who is now being tagged the strongest among all the 11 opposition candidates, toured and continued selling his ideas and program to the population to bolster his chances of unseating his old-time ally on October 12.
Enter bullish Bello Bouba
Bello Bouba Maigari of the UNDP has been having a similar ride. The former Prime Minister who most recently served as the Minister of Tourism and Leisure, launched his campaign in Douala in the Littoral Region last Saturday. Bello Bouba was categorical while launching the campaign: he urged the population to vote for him come October 12, promising to work for their interest and those of the rest of the Cameroonian people.
The UNDP leader has been one of the most vibrant candidates since the start of the pre-campaign and campaign periods in the leadup to the forthcoming election. Before launching the campaign, Bello Bouba received a major boost in his bid. He was backed by candidates Akere Muna of the Universe party and Ateki Caxton of the Liberal Alliance Party, PAL.
The two candidates announced over the weekend that they had dropped from the race to officially back Bello Bouba who is running for president for since the 1992 poll. They joined Bello Bouba in Douala as he launched his campaign.
Enter other candidates
Honorable Osih Joshua of the Social Democratic Front, SDF party and Tomaino Ndam Njoya of Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU party and the other candidates have also been strongly engaged in the campaign. Tomaimo Ndam Njoya launched her campaign in Yaounde last Saturday and has continued the exercise with stopovers in major markets in the nation’s capital.
Honorable Osih Joshua flagged off his campaign exercise in Bamenda in the North West Region and has since hit other parts of the country. Honorable Pierre Kwemo of the United Socialist Movements, UMS party tipped off the exercise in Penja in the Moungo Division of the Littoral Region on Sunday.
During the launch, he continued urging Cameroonians to massively vote for him on October 12, promising to completely change the country’s situation if elected. Serge Espoir Matomba of the United People for Social Renovation, Hiram Iyodi of the Democratic Front for Cameroon and Cabral Libii of Cameroon party for national reconciliation, PCRN and the other candidates made similar promises when they launched theirs and continued campaigning.
