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This planet's oldest head of state - 92-year-old Paul Biya - has pledged the nation's electorate "the future holds promise" as he aims for his eighth consecutive presidential term on Sunday.

The elderly leader has stayed in power for over four decades - another seven-year term could extend his reign for half a century until he will be almost 100.

Campaign Controversies

He defied broad demands to leave office and faced criticism for attending just one rally, devoting much of the election season on a ten-day unofficial journey to Europe.

Negative reaction concerning his reliance on an computer-generated election advertisement, as his opponents actively wooed voters directly, prompted his quick return north after coming back.

Youth Population and Unemployment

It means that for the large portion of the citizenry, Biya is the only president they remember - over sixty percent of Cameroon's 30 million residents are below the 25 years old.

Youthful campaigner Marie Flore Mboussi urgently wants "different faces" as she maintains "extended rule inevitably leads to a sort of complacency".

"With 43 years passed, the citizens are exhausted," she states.

Young people's joblessness remains a particular discussion topic for the majority of the contenders running in the vote.

Approximately forty percent of young residents between 15-35 are without work, with 23% of recent graduates facing challenges in obtaining regular work.

Opposition Candidates

Apart from young people's job issues, the voting procedure has created debate, particularly regarding the disqualification of a political rival from the election contest.

The disqualification, approved by the legal authority, was generally denounced as a tactic to stop any serious competition to the current leader.

Twelve contenders were cleared to contest for the leadership position, including an ex-government official and a previous supporter - each ex- Biya colleagues from the north of the nation.

Voting Difficulties

In Cameroon's English-speaking North-West and Southwest territories, where a long-running insurgency ongoing, an poll avoidance restriction has been established, halting economic functions, movement and schooling.

Insurgents who have established it have promised to target people who does vote.

Starting four years ago, those attempting to establish a separate nation have been clashing with state security.

The fighting has to date resulted in at minimum six thousand individuals and caused almost half a million residents from their houses.

Election Results

After Sunday's vote, the Constitutional Council has two weeks to announce the results.

The security chief has already warned that none of the contenders is allowed to declare victory prior to official results.

"Individuals who will try to declare outcomes of the presidential election or any self-proclaimed victory against the regulations of the country would have crossed the red line and must prepare to receive consequences commensurate to their violation."