However, the official declaration of the result is expected within the next 15 days.
In a statement issued in Douala and signed by coalition leaders, Anicet Ekane and Djeukam Tchameni, the group said results from across the country and abroad showed Bakary securing between 60% and 80% of votes in several polling stations.
“The Cameroonian people have decided,” the statement read. “The results coming in from all corners of the country and even from abroad deliver a clear verdict: the Candidate of the People, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, is the winner of the 12 October 2025 presidential election.”
The coalition accused the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) of deploying its “traditional machinery of fraud,” but said Bakary had delivered a “crushing defeat” to the party’s candidate.
“We therefore call upon the outgoing president to promptly extend his congratulations to the newly elected president,” the coalition added.
The Union for Change 2025 urged administrative authorities and security forces to respect the will of the people “in dignity and security,” while calling on citizens to remain mobilised to defend their victory.
Bakary, a former minister under President Paul Biya, was unanimously selected in September as the coalition’s “People’s Consensus” candidate. The coalition, which reportedly includes over 50 political and civil organisations, aims to unify the fragmented opposition around a common programme for political transition and national reconstruction.
“It is a PEOPLE’S COALITION, open to all citizens and all political and civil organisations — including those whose candidates were unjustly excluded from the presidential race,” the group said.
The coalition has positioned itself as a force for democratic renewal, pledging to rebuild Cameroon during a three to five-year transition period.
As of press time, official results had not been released by the Constitutional Council. The coalition’s declaration is expected to intensify political tensions in the days ahead.
The election
Sunday’s voting proceeded largely smoothly and without significant difficulties, Celestin Tabouli Succes, a journalist from the northern city of Maroua, told DW.
In a rare public appearance at a large rally in Maroua, the capital of Cameroon’s Far North region, a week before the October 12 election, Biya promised to strengthen regional security, fight youth unemployment and improve the nation’s infrastructure.
In Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions, extra troops were deployed to protect the vote following threats to disrupt the election from separatist groups aiming to establish an independent state.
“There were isolated incidents in the morning in some villages near the Nigerian border,” Success said. He added that affected polling stations had been relocated to protected places for security reasons.
“It was also noticeable that in the Far North — at the few polling stations I was able to visit — only representatives of three parties were present: the ruling party Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC), and the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP) of Bello Bouba Maigari,” Succes said.
“Other parties participating in the election were not represented at the polling stations in Maroua,” he said.
About 8 million citizens, including over 34,000 overseas voters, were eligible to cast ballots at more than 31,000 polling stations.
Cameroon is home to more than 29 million people, 13.7 million of whom are under 18, based on 2023 data from the United Nations.
Cameroonians want change
Although the results are expected within the next 15 days and there are no voter surveys, analysts predict a victory for Biya.
If re-elected, the 92-year-old would be 99 at the end of his term.
Biya came to power in 1982, after the resignation of Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, and has ruled ever since. He has been declared the winner of seven consecutive elections.
Cameroon’s best-known opposition candidate, Maurice Kamto, was previously excluded from the election after the commission declared in July that his party had violated the nomination rules.
Critics condemned this decision as politically motivated, saying it was a setback for hopes of a free, fair and transparent election.
Biya’s main competitors are Bello Bouba Maigari, former tourism minister, and Issa Tchiroma Bakary, former employment minister.
“This election comes at a time when the whole nation aspires for change,” Tchiroma said after voting in his hometown of Garoua, in the North region.
Tchiroma urged voters to remain vigilant and make sure that the results announced by the Constitutional Council reflect the results from ballot boxes.
In a sign of rising tensions around the election, a Reuters journalist saw security forces fire teargas to disperse hundreds of Tchiroma’s supporters, who tried to gather around his residence in Garoua after the area was cordoned off.
