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This world's most aged head of state - 92-year-old Paul Biya - has pledged Cameroon's voters "the future holds promise" as he pursues his eighth consecutive presidential term on Sunday.

The elderly leader has stayed in office since 1982 - an additional 7-year mandate could see him rule for half a century reaching almost a century old.

Election Controversies

He defied numerous appeals to resign and drew backlash for making merely one public appearance, devoting much of the election season on a week-and-a-half personal visit to the European continent.

Criticism regarding his dependence on an artificial intelligence created campaign video, as his challengers sought voters directly, saw him rush north after coming back.

Young Population and Joblessness

Consequently for the vast majority of the population, Biya remains the sole leader they remember - over 60% of the nation's thirty million people are under the age of 25.

Youthful campaigner Marie Flore Mboussi strongly desires "different faces" as she thinks "prolonged leadership typically causes a type of complacency".

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

Employment challenges for youth has become a particular talking point for nearly all the candidates running in the vote.

Approximately forty percent of youthful residents aged from 15 to 35 years are unemployed, with twenty-three percent of college-educated youth encountering difficulties in finding regular work.

Opposition Contenders

Beyond young people's job issues, the electoral process has also stirred dispute, particularly regarding the removal of an opposition leader from the leadership competition.

The removal, approved by the legal authority, was generally denounced as a ploy to stop any significant opposition to the current leader.

A dozen contenders were approved to contest for the presidency, including a former minister and a previous supporter - each ex- Biya allies from the northern region of the nation.

Election Challenges

In Cameroon's Anglophone Northwest and South-West areas, where a protracted separatist conflict persists, an poll avoidance lockdown has been imposed, stopping commercial operations, movement and learning.

The separatists who have imposed it have promised to target anyone who does vote.

Starting four years ago, those attempting to establish a independent territory have been battling state security.

The fighting has so far caused the deaths of at minimum 6,000 individuals and forced almost half a million residents from their homes.

Vote Outcome

After Sunday's vote, the Constitutional Council has two weeks to declare the outcome.

The security chief has earlier advised that no aspirant is permitted to announce winning in advance.

"Individuals who will seek to announce results of the presidential election or any unofficial win announcement contrary to the laws of the republic would have violated boundaries and should be ready to encounter penalties commensurate to their violation."