Succession and the vice-presidency: every brief

Home Succession and the vice-presidency: every brief

Whether Cameroon creates a functioning line of succession behind President Paul Biya, who has led the country since 1982. Parliament sitting as a Congress created a vice-presidency on 4 April 2026 and the president promulgated it on 14 April, but the office has not been filled and the head of state holds the sole power to fill it. The debate now runs on two tracks: opposition and civil society calls for the post to be filled or the presidency declared vacant, and the government's position that physical absence is not legal vacancy.

The desk has published 15 briefs in this storyline, the most recent on 2 November 2026: Vice-presidential office stays empty as public debate continues.

Key dates

  • Parliament sitting as a Congress adopts the constitutional revision creating the office of vice-president of the Republic.
  • President Paul Biya promulgates the revision. The text gives the head of state the power to appoint and dismiss a vice-president. No appointment follows.
  • A man is arrested after trying to have a false decree naming a vice-president read on the airwaves of the national radio.
  • Eleven Cameroonian intellectuals, among them Achille Mbembe and Akere Muna, publish a tribune in the French daily Liberation calling for a constitutional transition and for the competent authorities to declare the presidency vacant.
  • Christian Ntimbane Bomo of the party Heritage proposes a transition founded on recognising Issa Tchiroma Bakary as the winner of the 12 October 2025 presidential election.
  • Denis Emilien Atangana of the FDC calls publicly on President Biya to name a vice-president, citing the state of the head of state's health.

Every brief in this storyline

  1. Vice-presidential office stays empty as public debate continues
  2. Presidential aide Oswald Baboke cited as favourite for vice-presidency
  3. [UPDATE]: Ndoki warns of undeclared vice-president decree in succession scenario
  4. Vice-presidential office stays empty as debate over succession sharpens
  5. Yaounde Archdiocese denies archbishop sought sanctions against Abbe Bakaba
  6. Cameroon vice-presidential post stays vacant six months after law created it
  7. Atangana urges Biya to name vice-president, citing president’s health
  8. Senate president’s office denies attack rumour and threatens legal action
  9. SDF vice-president Kakdeu calls for new social contract in Cameroon
  10. Cameroon press reviews flag succession debate and religious forum
  11. Mbog says confusion over power vacancy is financed
  12. Eleven intellectuals call for constitutional transition in Cameroon
  13. Ntimbane Bomo proposes Tchiroma as constitutional transition option
  14. A year after Maroua speech, Biya’s youth and women pledges draw scrutiny
  15. Report says Washington gathered views on Cameroon transition figures

Last updated: 3 November 2026