Cameroon delays parliamentary elections, lawmakers to stay until end 2026

Cameroonian lawmakers yet again voted on Thursday to extend their mandate, according to official media.

Originally set to be dissolved on March 10, 2025, the central African country’s current parliament will now sit until December 20, 2026, according to the Cameroon Tribune.

Lawmakers, elected in the January 2020 ballot for what was meant to be a five-year-long mandate, had already voted to prolong their stay on the parliament benches for a one-year period.

President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state at 93 years of age, had already hinted on February 10 at a “slight readjustment” of the timetable for parliamentary and local elections expected at the beginning of that month.

By law, the parliamentaries’ mandates can be extended for a maximum of 18 months.

Having held power with a firm grasp since 1982, Biya’s re-election last October for an eighth term sparked protests in several large cities, which the authorities brutally repressed.