Paul Biya

Paul Barthélemy Biya (né Biya'a bi Mvondo, born 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has been serving as the second president of Cameroon since 1982. He was previously the fifth prime minister under President Ahmadou Ahidjo from 1975 to 1982. As of 2026, he is the second-longest-ruling president in Africa (after Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Equatorial Guinea) and the longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world; at the age of 93, he is also the oldest current head of state in the world.

A native of Cameroon’s south, Biya rose rapidly as a bureaucrat under President Ahmadou Ahidjo in the 1960s, as Secretary-General of the Presidency from 1968 to 1975 and then as prime minister. He succeeded Ahidjo as president upon the latter's surprise resignation in 1982 and consolidated power in a 1983–1984 staged attempted coup in which he eliminated all of his major rivals.

Biya introduced political reforms within the context of a one-party system in the 1980s, later accepting the introduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s under serious pressure. He nevertheless leads an authoritarian regime in Cameroon. He won the contentious 1992 presidential election with 40% of the plurality, single-ballot vote and was re-elected by large margins in 1997, 2004, 2011, 2018, and 2025. Opposition politicians and Western governments have alleged voting irregularities and fraud on each of these occasions. It is widely believed that the 1992 election was manipulated in his favor, and domestic and international observers have documented evidence of systemic electoral fraud in parliamentary and presidential elections under his administration.