Cameroon's President Paul Biya Just Won a Seventh Term In Office

Cameroon's president Paul Biya, will serve his seventh term in office after "winning" the country's election on Monday.

According to official results, the incumbent leader won with 71.3 percent of the vote. Somehow winning by a landslide even in Anglophone regions where he rule is highly contested due to his handling (or lack thereof) of the growing Anglophone separatist crisis in the South-West region.

The controversial election was hindered by low voter turnout and violence due to widespread insecurity in English-speaking regions—which has left thousands of people dead or displaced within the past year. Voter turnout was as low as 5 percent in those areas, according to BBC Africa.

Nonetheless, official results say that Biya won in 9 out of 10 of the country's regions. Main opposition leader Maurice Kamto, earned just 14.2 percent of the vote. Kamto pushed for an election rerun following the October 7 election, which was rife with controversy, as unofficial results that claimed various winners were spread throughout social media.

Biya, 85, is Africa's oldest leader. He has been president since 1982 (even longer if you count his 6 years as Prime Minister prior to that). With this win, he will serve another 7 years. In recent years he has been criticized for being a noticeably absent leader—spending substantial time abroad on "private trips" and official visits and raking up a bill of around $182 million on jets and hotel fees, according to a report from Quartz Africa.

Cameroonians and international observers have expressed disappointment on social media about the outcome of the particularly high-stake election. Aging leaders maintaining control over mostly young populations is an issue that continues to plague many African nations. His win means that uncertainty will continue to loom over the well-being of citizens in Anglophone regions.