Will this planet's oldest leader keep his position and attract a nation of young voters?
The world's most aged leader - nonagenarian Paul Biya - has pledged the nation's electorate "better days are ahead" as he seeks his 8th consecutive term in office on Sunday.
The nonagenarian has remained in office since 1982 - another seven-year mandate could extend his reign for 50 years making him almost a century old.
Campaign Issues
He ignored numerous appeals to leave office and faced criticism for making merely one rally, spending most of the election season on a ten-day unofficial journey to Europe.
A backlash concerning his reliance on an artificial intelligence created campaign video, as his challengers actively wooed voters on the ground, led to his hurried travel north upon his arrival.
Youth Voters and Unemployment
Consequently for the great bulk of the population, Biya is the only president they have known - above 60% of Cameroon's thirty million inhabitants are younger than the quarter century mark.
Youthful campaigner Marie Flore Mboussi urgently wants "different faces" as she thinks "extended rule naturally results in a sort of inertia".
"Following four decades, the citizens are exhausted," she states.
Young people's joblessness has been a particular talking point for nearly all the aspirants running in the vote.
Almost 40% of youthful citizens aged from 15-35 are unemployed, with 23% of college-educated youth encountering difficulties in finding official jobs.
Opposition Candidates
In addition to young people's job issues, the electoral process has generated dispute, especially with the exclusion of an opposition leader from the election contest.
His exclusion, confirmed by the legal authority, was generally denounced as a tactic to block any serious competition to the current leader.
Twelve candidates were cleared to contest for the country's top job, comprising a former minister and a previous supporter - each former Biya colleagues from the north of the country.
Election Challenges
Within the nation's English-speaking North-West and South-West regions, where a long-running separatist conflict continues, an voting prohibition restriction has been established, paralysing commercial operations, transport and learning.
Rebel groups who have imposed it have promised to harm people who does vote.
Starting four years ago, those attempting to establish a breakaway state have been clashing with state security.
The conflict has so far caused the deaths of at no fewer than 6,000 individuals and forced nearly half a million others from their houses.
Vote Outcome
Once polling concludes, the Constitutional Council has fifteen days to declare the findings.
The government official has previously cautioned that none of the contenders is authorized to announce winning in advance.
"Those who will try to reveal findings of the political race or any unofficial win announcement against the regulations of the nation would have broken rules and should be ready to face retaliatory measures appropriate for their offense."
