France 24 Interview Sparks Global Scrutiny of Biya’s Win

Speaking on France 24, Maître Jemal Taleb, one of Tchiroma’s international lawyers, said his client’s campaign collected certified polling-station results across 18 departments covering more than 80 percent of the electorate. Those procès-verbaux (PVs), now available in a public digital folder, reportedly show Tchiroma leading with about 55 to 56 percent of the vote. Taleb insisted that no credible challenge has been raised against their authenticity, while official tallies “mysteriously gained” more than 70 000 new voters after polls closed.

“There was no election. It was a scripted show. If the Constitutional Council is confident in its figures, let it allow an independent audit of the PVs,” Taleb told the channel.

He accused the Council, chaired by Biya’s longtime ally Clément Atangana, of transforming a legal institution into a “political arm of the presidency.” Tchiroma’s lawyers maintain that the Council’s decision to proclaim Biya’s victory with 53.66 percent against 35.19 percent for Tchiroma contradicts field data verified by election monitors and party agents.

In the same interview, Taleb condemned what he described as “a campaign of terror” by state forces following peaceful demonstrations in Douala, Garoua, and Yaoundé. Eyewitness accounts and local footage reviewed by Cameroon Concord confirm live rounds fired at unarmed civilians, with deaths reported in multiple cities.

“Snipers were placed around Mr Tchiroma’s residence in Garoua,” Taleb alleged. “We are documenting each case. Those who gave orders will be held accountable.”

The legal collective—composed of Cameroonian and foreign counsel—has begun preparing a case for the International Criminal Court, targeting senior members of the government and security services implicated in extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and enforced disappearances since the vote.

Taleb urged international partners to abandon “diplomatic shyness” and confront what he termed “a state sliding into impunity.” He called on the EU, the US, and the African Union to demand independent investigations and the immediate release of detained demonstrators and opposition figures, including academics and party officials held without charge.

The European Union has already voiced concern, condemning excessive force and urging accountability. France and the United States have yet to issue detailed reactions, though diplomats privately acknowledge growing unease over the violence.

Inside Cameroon, tension remains high. Protests and sporadic clashes continue in Douala, Garoua, Bafoussam, and parts of Yaoundé despite calls for calm from Tchiroma himself, who thanked supporters for “defending the truth of the ballot box” and appealed for non-violence.

For many Cameroonians, Biya’s eighth consecutive term—extending a 43-year rule—symbolises a political system unable to renew itself. Critics say the Constitutional Council’s ruling has only deepened the legitimacy crisis of a government seen as detached from a restless population.

“Cameroon’s tragedy,” Taleb concluded, “is that power has become an inheritance. But impunity ends where the law begins—and that line has now been crossed.”