Cameroon sets 7 February 2027 vote for parliament and councils

Cameroon will hold parliamentary and local elections on 7 February 2027, under a decree signed by President Paul Biya, RFI reported. The vote has been postponed twice, and the members of the National Assembly it replaces have sat for seven years, two beyond their normal term.

The decree was signed on Monday. On Tuesday the state-owned daily Cameroon Tribune carried the headline "See you on February 7", RFI reported.

Africanews reported the date as February 7 and described Biya, 93, as the world's oldest head of state. It said the ballot would be the first since the veteran leader was reelected in contested polls last year. RFI put that election in October 2025 and said it gave Biya an eighth term after more than four decades in power.

The contest will test whether Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement, the RDPC, keeps its dominance in parliament and local government. At the previous elections in 2020 the party took 152 of the 180 seats in the National Assembly and control of 316 of the country's 360 municipalities, according to RFI.

RFI reported that political observers expect a harder fight than in 2020, particularly in the north, a stronghold of Issa Tchiroma, a former government ally who is now in exile. The opposition Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon, the MRC, which boycotted the 2020 elections, is expected to take part this time.

"Let the electoral contest begin," political scientist Alphonse Bernard Amougou told RFI, welcoming confirmation of the vote. Analyst Cyrille Tchamba told RFI that the ruling party would need to stop "a loss of ground" after the 2025 presidential election, while the opposition would try to build on the momentum of Tchiroma's presidential campaign. "Cameroonians could use these combined elections on 7 February to send the signal for change that everyone is waiting for," Tchamba said.

In Yaounde, the capital, the announcement drew both relief and impatience. "We want a renewal of the political class and, really, young people in power," Nkopipie Kodjo, who heads an association, told AFP, describing the political class as "a bit has-been, it's outdated". Businessman Henri Etene told AFP: "The wait has been very long." He said the country was "completely bogged down on all fronts" and that "nothing works".

RFI reported that Biya has weakened political parties and silenced opposition since 2018, when, in its account, he arrested and convicted hundreds of peaceful demonstrators, including presidential rival Maurice Kamto.