Cameroonian President Paul Biya is scheduled to hold his first campaign rally of this election cycle in the northern town of Maroua on Tuesday, just five days before the presidential poll in which the 92-year-old, who has been in power for 43 years, is seeking an eighth term.

The northern region of the country is vote-rich, accounting for 2,704,054 or 32.9 percent of the over eight million voters, with the Far North Region, which Biya is touring, having 1,337,796 registered voters, representing 16.28 percent of the national tally of voters.

Despite being a serial election winner, Biya rarely holds campaign rallies. In the last election, in 2018, he held his only rally in Maroua.

That year, he told supporters then that his choice of the city was “an expression of the high esteem he held for the region, and his commitment to making it benefit from the “great opportunities' that the country offers.

His office has not announced any other campaign rallies before Saturday, when the campaign period ends.

By choosing this part of the country, experts say the veteran leader is gauging his support, given that it is the stronghold of two former allies turned rivals – Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary.

According to data from Elections Cameroon, the electoral management body, 8,219,210 Cameroonians, including 34,160 in the diaspora, are expected to vote on Sunday, October 12, to elect a president for a seven-year term.

Biya, the world’s oldest head of State, who had been away in Europe for 10 days after the official campaign period began on September 27, is expected to win by a landslide against a 10-strong team of challengers.

His biggest rival and runner-up in the 2018 election, Prof Maurice Kamto, was disqualified from this year’s race.

Two candidates from the initial 12 endorsed to run, Akere Muna and Ateki Seta Caxton, stepped down in support of Bello Bouba Maigari, a former minister of Tourism and Leisure and long-time ally of Biya, who withdrew from the Cabinet to run.

Bello and the other opposition candidates have been crisscrossing the country to woo voters, with Bakary, a former minister of Employment who also deserted Biya, pulling unexpected crowds, including in the conflict-plagued Anglophone regions.

So far, Biya’s campaign has been conducted by senior officials of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), including government ministers and directors-general of State-owned firms.