‘Unpopular Paul Biya’ Set to Win Cameroon’s Presidential Polls, Research Says

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya is the favourite to win Sunday’s Presidential election despite being unpopular amongst the electorates, a latest research published by the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation has revealed.

The results of the research carried out by the Nkafu Policy Institute of the Foundation were released on Saturday, the same day Paul Biya, 86, was making his first appearance at a campaign rally in Maroua, Far North Region of the West African nation.

The study carried out with the help of the National Endowment for Democracy was aimed at taking a look at the state of the economy, perceptions on governance and the democratic process, and voter preferences for the 9 presidential candidates in Cameroon.

‘Unpopular Paul Biya’ Set to Win Cameroon’s Presidential Polls, Research Says

The opinion poll was carried out in the ten regions of the country amongst adult Cameroonians on the state of the economy, perceptions on governance and the democratic process, and voter preferences for the 9 presidential candidates.
About 2,024 adult Cameroonians in all ten regions were interviewed in 54 urban centers and 25 rural localities from September 10 to September 20, 2018 with Paul Biya favourite to win.

However, that result is only possible through the fact that many Cameroonians don’t believe an opposition candidate can single-handedly defeat the incumbent.

Respondents thus believe a coalition amongst Cabral Libii, Maurice Kamto and Joshua Osih, or only two of the three would greatly increase the chances of the opposition to win Sunday’s polls, the report said.

The quest for change in Cameroon can be explained by the fact that 79.1 percent of Cameroonians believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction, according to the poll-most of them are concerned about the state of infrastructure in the country.

Thus most Cameroonians would like to see their local authorities elected as per the poll with (82.17 %) want local administrators such as Governors.

On the security lane, a vast majority of Cameroonians (65.04%) believe the Anglophone conflict is the greatest threat to the security of the country and most do not support the government’s war in the Northwest and Southwest regions. Only 7.84 % percent of Cameroonians support the use of force while 85.49 % percent believe dialogue or negotiation should be the way forward.

Published on October 2, 2018 - View Original