45 candidates registered for Cameroon presidential election

Altogether 45 candidates in Cameroon, including President Paul Biya, launched their bid for the upcoming presidential election on Oct. 9, according to the country's election management body Elections Cameroon (ELECAM). The candidates also include the president's arch-rival and leading opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) leader John Fru Ndi, who came second in the 2004 election with 17 percent of the vote, as well as Adamou Ndam Njoya of the Cameroon Democratic Union (CDU) and Garga Haman Adji of the Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) who came third and fourth respectively in the election in 2004. "President Paul Biya is responding to the call of the people to run again as president of the republic as contained in motions of support sent in from the sections of the party from across the country," the Deputy Secretary-General of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) Gregoire Owona told reporters shortly after a delegation of the party's central committee deposited his file at the ELECAM head office in Yaounde. It was the highest number of candidates ever registered in the oil-producing country. ELECAM Board Chairman Samuel Fonkam Azu'u said the body had enrolled some 2.3 million names on the voter registry, bringing the total number to 7.3 million including the 5 million that participated in previous polls. But the list is still to be scrutinized and revised.