The Cameroonian opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary, currently in exile in Gambia, has asked for the legislative and municipal elections scheduled for February 7, 2027, to be boycotted, after branding as "illegal" the call signed by President Paul Biya.
In a note circulated by the outlet 'Actu Cameroun', the former minister argues that the country has been living through a political crisis since the October 12, 2025 presidential elections, in which he declared himself the winner and refused to accept Biya's official victory, which led him to leave Cameroon. In this context, he has emphasized that a new electoral date "cannot be considered a solution" if, before that, the consequences of what he describes as a political system that violates its own institutional rules are not addressed.
"I make a solemn appeal to the political parties of the Cameroonian opposition: do not participate in this electoral farce and do not lend your support to another seizure of popular sovereignty. Your participation, under the current circumstances, would validate a new injustice and would make you politically responsible for its consequences," the leader of the Front for the Salvation of Cameroon has said.
At the same time, Tchiroma Bakary has indicated that he is pushing initiatives to prevent the holding of the polls and has shown himself to be "determined to act" alongside political and social forces critical of the Government of Yaundé, with the aim of putting an end to what he defines as an "endless cycle of electoral fraud".
Nevertheless, the boycott proposal does not gain consensus within the opposition. The president of the Union for Change, Djeukam Tchameni, has distanced himself from this line by doubting the usefulness of renouncing the ballot boxes and by referring to the precedent of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC), which chose not to take part in the 2020 elections.
Bakary left Cameroon the day after the presidential election results were made public and, as the Gambian Executive confirmed at the time, has remained in Gambia since November 7, 2025.
The Government of Cameroon decided to ignore the challenge posed by the opposition. The official figures, which Tchiroma Bakary continues to contest, granted Biya, at 92 years old and considered the oldest head of state on the planet, 53.7 percent of the votes, compared with 35.2 percent achieved by his main rival.