Developing
No appointment has been made to the office of vice-president of the Republic since the constitutional revision creating the post was promulgated on 14 April 2026, 202 days ago. The office remains empty.
Under the Constitution as revised on 14 April 2026, the president of the Republic appoints and dismisses the vice-president, and no other body shares that power. The revision does not itself name a successor. Where the presidency falls vacant, interim duties pass to the president of the Senate, who under the Constitution may not revise the Constitution, dissolve the National Assembly, organise a referendum or appoint members of the Constitutional Council.
The absence of an appointment has drawn public calls for the president to act. On 14 October 2026, Denis Emilien Atangana of the FDC called on President Paul Biya to name a vice-president, writing that the state of the head of state's health made the appointment necessary. On 5 October 2026, 11 intellectuals, among them Achille Mbembe and Akere Muna, called in a tribune in Liberation for the competent authorities to declare the presidency vacant and open a constitutional transition.
Gregoire Owona answered on 8 October 2026 that the Constitution does not recognise a de facto vacancy, that physical absence is not legal vacancy, and that the Republic has no dauphin. The presidency has issued no statement on when an appointment will be made.