Cameroon's President Paul Biya. AFP
The 92-year-old Biya, the world's oldest head of state, won the October 12 election with 53.7 percent of the vote, according to official results, against 35.2 percent for his main challenger, former government minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary.
He is to be sworn in at a ceremony in parliament in Yaounde for a new seven-year term at the helm of the central African country.
Tchiroma, a former Biya ally turned opposition figure, stirred unexpected enthusiasm among young people eager for change and continues to insist he is the true winner.
"There are now two presidents -- the president elected by the Cameroonian people (me) and the president appointed by the Constitutional Council (whom you know)," he wrote on social media on Wednesday.
He has repeatedly urged supporters to protest against the official results, which were closer than expected.
Protesters clashed with the security forces, some were arrested and one person was killed in the northern city of Garoua, just before and after Biya's win was announced on October 27,
authorities said.
Tchiroma has since urged supporters to stage "dead city" operations, closing shops and halting other public activities.
The response in the former French colony has been mixed, with the call being widely followed in Garoua and Douala but in Yaounde most shops remained open, children were at school and employees went to work.
Political standoff
Tchiroma had been confined to his home in Garoua after the results were announced, but on Tuesday, one of his spokespeople told AFP that he was "on the move."
The government has said it plans to initiate legal proceedings against the opposition leader, denouncing his "repeated calls for insurrection."
"With neither side willing to back down, the risks of worsening unrest are high," the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said in a report on October 29.
Both the European Union and the African Union have condemned the authorities' violent crackdown on protests, while the United Nations' High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an investigation.
Biya is only the second person to lead Cameroon since independence from France in 1960.
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