Can this planet's most aged president retain his title and attract a country of young electorate?

The planet's oldest leader - nonagenarian Paul Biya - has pledged the nation's voters "the best is still to come" as he pursues his eighth consecutive term in office on Sunday.

The elderly leader has already been in power since 1982 - an additional 7-year mandate could see him rule for half a century until he will be almost 100.

Election Controversies

He defied widespread calls to step down and has been criticised for attending just a single campaign event, devoting much of the election season on a week-and-a-half unofficial journey to Europe.

A backlash over his use of an artificial intelligence created campaign video, as his challengers courted supporters in person, led to his hurried travel north upon his arrival.

Youth Voters and Unemployment

It means that for the great bulk of the people, Biya remains the sole leader they experienced - more than sixty percent of Cameroon's 30 million people are below the 25 years old.

Youthful advocate Marie Flore Mboussi is desperate for "new blood" as she thinks "prolonged leadership typically causes a kind of inertia".

"After 43 years, the people are tired," she states.

Young people's joblessness has been a specific discussion topic for nearly all the contenders running in the vote.

Almost forty percent of youthful Cameroonians aged from 15 and 35 are unemployed, with twenty-three percent of recent graduates encountering difficulties in finding formal employment.

Rival Contenders

In addition to young people's job issues, the election system has generated dispute, especially with the disqualification of Maurice Kamto from the presidential race.

His exclusion, upheld by the legal authority, was generally denounced as a tactic to stop any serious competition to the incumbent.

A dozen contenders were authorized to contest for the leadership position, featuring Issa Tchiroma Bakary and Bello Bouba Maigari - the two ex- Biya colleagues from the northern region of the nation.

Election Difficulties

In Cameroon's English-speaking Northwest and South-West areas, where a protracted insurgency ongoing, an poll avoidance closure has been imposed, stopping economic functions, movement and schooling.

The separatists who have established it have promised to target individuals who participates.

Beginning in 2017, those seeking to create a independent territory have been clashing with government forces.

The conflict has to date killed at least 6k lives and caused approximately half a million residents from their houses.

Election Results

Once polling concludes, the Constitutional Council has fifteen days to announce the findings.

The security chief has earlier advised that no aspirant is allowed to claim success beforehand.

"Candidates who will attempt to announce results of the political race or any unofficial win announcement against the rules of the nation would have broken rules and must prepare to receive consequences appropriate for their offense."