Cameroonian opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary says he will continue to reject the results of this month\u2019s presidential election until he secures a \u201cfinal victory\u201d over incumbent Paul Biya.<\/p>\n
Addressing the regime in a post published on social media, Tchiroma accused state institutions of “using their power to impose their candidate” and warned that \u201ctheir impunity is coming to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n
“The truth of the ballot is clear. We won this election by a large majority. This victory is not mine alone; it belongs to the Cameroonian people,” Tchiroma said late on Tuesday in his first public address since the Constitutional Council confirmed Biya’s win on Monday.<\/p>\n
Tchiroma also called on his supporters not to give up, telling them they have a unique opportunity to say \u201cenough is enough.\u201d “We remain united, mobilised and will continue to resist until the final victory.” Tchiroma ended his online address by announcing a new phase of mobilisation: “Let them rejoice, let them dance \u2014 this has only just begun. The third step is coming soon.”<\/p>\n
Protesters were out in force on Monday in the country\u2019s economic capital, Douala, after the Constitutional Council declared victory for Biya, with 53.66 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n
At least 23 people have been killed as a result of security forces cracking down on protesters since the weekend, the civil society group “Stand up for Cameroon” said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The group said arrested protesters and other civilians were being held in “inhumane” conditions.<\/p>\n
“The lawyers’ testimonies describe swollen faces, bruises, and humiliating treatment inflicted on citizens who sought to exercise their constitutional rights,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
A video circulating on social media showed security forces loading an inert body onto the back of a military truck. In another clip, protesters could be heard chanting, “Give back the corpse.”<\/p>\n
Authorities have accused the opposition of inciting the recent unrest, saying Tchiroma mistakenly and prematurely declared victory immediately following the October 12 vote.<\/p>\n
Other opposition leaders have alleged widespread fraud, accusations rejected by the government.<\/p>\n
The council’s decision is final and not subject to appeal.<\/p>\n
At 92, Biya is the world\u2019s oldest leader and has ruled Cameroon for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cameroonian opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary says he will continue to reject the results of this month\u2019s presidential election until he secures a \u201cfinal victory\u201d over incumbent Paul Biya. Addressing the regime in a post published on social media, Tchiroma accused state institutions of “using their power to impose their candidate” and warned that \u201ctheir […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Africa News","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2362,33],"tags":[193,4167,1503],"class_list":["post-18454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-central-africa","category-featured","category-politics","tag-cameroon","tag-issa-tchiroma-bakary","tag-paul-biya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}