Will this world's oldest leader retain the title and attract a nation of young voters?

This planet's most aged leader - 92-year-old Paul Biya - has promised the nation's voters "the future holds promise" as he seeks his 8th straight term in office on Sunday.

The 92-year-old has stayed in power for over four decades - an additional seven-year mandate could extend his reign for half a century making him almost a century old.

Election Issues

He ignored numerous appeals to resign and has been criticised for only showing up for a single campaign event, spending most of the campaign period on a ten-day personal visit to the European continent.

A backlash concerning his reliance on an computer-generated political commercial, as his challengers sought constituents in person, led to his hurried travel to the northern region on his return home.

Young Voters and Joblessness

Consequently for the vast majority of the citizenry, Biya is the only president they remember - above 60% of the nation's thirty million people are under the 25 years old.

Young advocate Marie Flore Mboussi strongly desires "different faces" as she maintains "prolonged leadership inevitably leads to a type of inertia".

"After 43 years, the population are tired," she declares.

Youth unemployment has become a specific issue of concern for most of the candidates running in the vote.

Nearly 40% of youthful Cameroonians between 15 to 35 years are jobless, with twenty-three percent of college-educated youth facing challenges in securing formal employment.

Rival Contenders

In addition to youth unemployment, the electoral process has also stirred dispute, especially with the removal of Maurice Kamto from the leadership competition.

His exclusion, upheld by the Constitutional Council, was generally denounced as a tactic to block any serious competition to the current leader.

A dozen candidates were approved to vie for the presidency, featuring Issa Tchiroma Bakary and a previous supporter - each former Biya colleagues from the north of the country.

Voting Challenges

In Cameroon's Anglophone North-West and South-West regions, where a protracted separatist conflict ongoing, an election boycott restriction has been imposed, stopping commercial operations, movement and education.

Rebel groups who have established it have promised to attack individuals who participates.

Beginning in 2017, those seeking to create a breakaway state have been clashing with official military.

The fighting has to date resulted in at minimum 6,000 lives and forced nearly 500,000 people from their homes.

Vote Outcome

Once polling concludes, the legal body has 15 days to declare the results.

The government official has already warned that no aspirant is authorized to claim success prior to official results.

"Those who will seek to reveal findings of the political race or any unofficial win announcement in violation of the laws of the republic would have broken rules and should be ready to receive retaliatory measures matching their crime."