File photo, 2006. The Palais des Congrès, a congress centre on a hill in Yaoundé, with the Briqueterie mosque below it. (Photo: Ruediger Nassauer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

CAMEROON · POLITICS

The Cameroon Renaissance Movement, known as the MRC, an opposition party, asked on Wednesday 28 October 2026 for Cameroon’s presidency to be declared vacant. It wants the Senate president to act as caretaker head of state until a new presidential election is held.

No reply had been published on the websites of the presidency or of the communication and territorial administration ministries by the afternoon of Thursday 29 October. President Paul Biya, 93, remains in office, and no authority has announced a vacancy.

For US readers the stakes are travel safety and the outlook for a cocoa and oil exporter, since the State Department already warns Americans off several regions. The legal route is set out below, with more on the country in the Cameroon hub.

What the MRC Is Asking

Party president Tiriane Balbine Noah signed the statement in the capital, Yaoundé, and warns that Cameroon is on the brink of a general implosion. She won the party presidency at a congress on Saturday 17 October 2026 with more than 96% of the vote, succeeding founder Maurice Kamto, who resigned on Tuesday 8 September.

The MRC makes three demands: that the competent bodies declare the presidency vacant under the 1996 constitution, that the Senate president act as interim, and that a consensus electoral code be adopted before the new vote. It also asks the authorities to convene voters for legislative and municipal elections.

The party cites a 74.4% fall in public investment spending in 2026, the exclusion of Kamto from the October 2025 presidential race and post-election violence that it says killed dozens. It says soldiers have begun to speak out and calls the 14 April 2026 change that created an appointed vice president a constitutional coup that breaches Article 64, which bars revisions that harm the republican form of the state or its democratic principles.

What the Constitution Says

Article 6, as rewritten by Law No. 2026/002 of 14 April 2026, says the vice president finishes the term if the presidency falls vacant through death, resignation or a permanent incapacity confirmed by the Constitutional Council. If the post is unfilled, a vote must follow between 20 and 120 days after the vacancy, as the succession rules explainer details.

The Senate president then acts as interim head of state until the election, but may not change the constitution, call a referendum or run. The Senate has been led since 17 March 2026 by Aboubakary Abdoulaye, a traditional ruler and member of the ruling party’s political bureau.

Law No. 2026/004, also dated 14 April, names the vice president as the official who refers a vacancy case to the Constitutional Council, which decides by a two-thirds majority and has had a new president, Rémy Nama, since 16 October 2026. No decree naming a vice president appears among the presidency’s published decrees, the latest dated 16 October 2026.

File photo, 2016. Cocoa pods on a tree at Tayap, Cameroon; cocoa is one of the crops the country sells abroad. (Photo: Eric Freyssinge, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Why It Matters

Cameroon sells cocoa, oil and logs abroad, and the World Bank puts its 2025 growth at 3.4%, below the pace needed to create enough jobs. It says the fiscal deficit rose to 2.2% of GDP in 2025 as oil revenues fell and election-related spending grew.

On Tuesday 27 October the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, suspended the National Salvation Front of Cameroon, the party of 2025 runner-up Issa Tchiroma Bakary, for three months. His order cites calls to insurrection and the Yaoundé Military Tribunal’s convictions of 8 October over the violence that followed the 2025 vote.

What It Means for You

The State Department’s advisory page, read on 29 October 2026, rates Cameroon Level 2, exercise increased caution, overall. It sets Level 4, do not travel, for the North, Far North, Northwest and Southwest regions and parts of the East and Adamawa regions.

The advisory cites crime, kidnapping, terrorism in the Far North and armed violence in the Northwest and Southwest. The International Monetary Fund’s board last held its regular Article IV review of Cameroon’s economy on 25 March 2026.

What Is Not Known

The law names only the vice president as the official who refers a vacancy case to the Constitutional Council, and no appointment of one has been published. How a case could be started while the post is empty is therefore not settled in the text.

It is not known whether the presidency, the government or the Constitutional Council will answer the MRC, or how the armed forces view its call, since the Defence Ministry’s website was offline on Thursday 29 October. The investment figure and the other claims are the MRC’s own and are attributed to it here.

Nor is it known whether President Paul Biya will appoint a vice president, which the amended constitution lets him do. Deputies’ terms run to 20 December 2026 under Law No. 2026/001 and councillors’ to 28 February 2027 under a decree of 4 May, and no election date appears in the presidency’s published acts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Cameroon’s MRC party want?

The MRC wants the competent authorities to declare the presidency vacant and the Senate president to act as interim head of state. It also wants a consensus electoral code adopted before a new presidential election.

Who can declare a vacancy in Cameroon?

For a permanent incapacity, the Constitutional Council must confirm it, and a 2026 law names the vice president as the official who refers the case. No decree naming a vice president appears among the presidency’s published decrees, the latest dated 16 October 2026.

Is Paul Biya still president of Cameroon?

Yes, Paul Biya, 93, remains president. The Constitutional Council proclaimed him winner of the 12 October 2025 election on 27 October 2025 with 53.66% of the vote.

Is it safe for Americans to travel to Cameroon?

The State Department rates Cameroon Level 2, exercise increased caution, overall. It says not to travel to the North, Far North, Northwest and Southwest regions.

Sources: Presidency of Cameroon, Law No. 2026/002 amending the Constitution, 14 April 2026; Law No. 2026/004 on the Constitutional Council, 14 April 2026; Law No. 2026/001 extending the deputies’ mandate, 25 March 2026; Decree No. 2026/166 extending councillors’ mandate, 4 May 2026; Decrees No. 2026/333 and 2026/334 on the Constitutional Council, 16 October 2026; Constitution, Law No. 96/06 of 18 January 1996, Article 64; Constitutional Council, Ruling No. 54/CC/SRCER, 27 October 2025; Presidency of Cameroon, biography of President Biya, read 29 October 2026; Senate of Cameroon, page of the Senate president, read 29 October 2026; Ministry of Territorial Administration, Order No. 000163/A/MINAT, 27 October 2026; World Bank, Cameroon overview, 5 October 2026; US State Department, Cameroon travel advisory, read 29 October 2026; IMF, Cameroon country page, 29 October 2026; Mouvement pour la Renaissance du Cameroun, statement signed by Tiriane Balbine Noah, 28 October 2026.

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error