Cameroonian presidential election, 1992

A presidential election was held in Cameroon on 11 October 1992. It was the first presidential election since multi-party politics had been legalised, and it was also the first to feature more than one candidate. Incumbent Paul Biya won with 39.98% of the vote.^[1] Voter turnout was 71.9%.^[2]

The 1992 presidential election was a crucial moment in Cameroon's post-independence history. Although an assortment of opposition leaders—most importantly the anglophone Social Democratic Front leader John Fru Ndi—furiously opposed President Biya and sought to unseat him in 1990–1992, they were ultimately unable to do so. The opposition was successful in forcing Biya to accept multi-party politics and severely pressured his regime, but he nevertheless retained control of the country and faced a divided opposition in the 1992 election—the opposition's failure to present a single candidate offered a tremendous advantage to Biya, as the election rules required him to win only a plurality of the vote to win outright and therefore the opposition candidates could not unite against him in a second round. Official results showed Biya winning the election with 40% of the vote, while Fru Ndi trailed with 36%; those results were denounced as fraudulent by the opposition, and Fru Ndi claimed victory, but his claim proved fruitless.

After the election, the opposition began a long and gradual decline in strength, while Biya began to consolidate power again.

Results

References