He has held the presidency of Cameroon since 1982 - longer than any current non-royal leader on earth. At 93, Paul Biya is also the world's oldest sitting head of state, presiding over what observers widely call an authoritarian system sustained by contested elections.
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Born Paul Biya'a bi Mvondo on 13 February 1933 in Cameroon's south, Biya climbed the bureaucracy under President Ahmadou Ahidjo through the 1960s, serving as Secretary-General of the Presidency from 1968 and then prime minister from 1975. When Ahidjo resigned unexpectedly in 1982, Biya succeeded him and crushed an attempted coup two years later, clearing rivals from his path. He introduced limited reforms within a one-party frame in the 1980s, then bowed to pressure for multiparty politics in the early 1990s. The 1992 election - which he won with 40% in a single-ballot plurality - is widely believed to have been rigged, and domestic and international observers have documented fraud in every parliamentary and presidential vote since. He has been re-elected by large margins in 1997, 2004, 2011, 2018, and 2025, each time amid allegations of irregularities.
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