Tiriane Balbine Nadège Noah was elected president of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) on Saturday, October 17, 2026, securing 96.89% of the vote at an extraordinary national convention in Yaoundé. She had served as interim leader since Maurice Kamto resigned on September 8. Her election comes just months before parliamentary and municipal elections that the MRC plans to contest after boycotting both votes in 2020.
Noah had emerged as the clear favorite after her two rivals withdrew from the race. Brice Ronnic Djolako pulled out on September 23 and urged delegates to support her. Pierre Emmanuel Binyam announced his withdrawal on October 14, three days before the convention, citing concerns about how the internal election was being organized. Because his withdrawal came so late, his name remained on the ballot, according to available reports.
Beyond replacing Kamto, the leadership transition follows months of administrative challenges and internal disputes that had left uncertainty over who headed the party.
In a letter dated August 19, 2026, Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji said he had not "deemed it appropriate to formally acknowledge" the proceedings of the December 21, 2025, extraordinary convention, which had reelected Kamto as party president. That convention was held by videoconference after authorities banned an earlier gathering scheduled for November 29, 2025, at the party's headquarters in Odza. The MRC disputed the ministry's position and maintained that its internal decisions were valid.
The October 17 convention took place under different administrative conditions. The MRC had formally notified the Yaoundé IV subdistrict administration of the planned meeting on September 23 and received acknowledgment receipt No. 000332/RDMP/J06.04/SP on September 28. The document allowed the gathering to proceed at the party's headquarters in Odza.
That did not prevent further challenges. Willy Mengue, whom the MRC described as an expelled member, requested the withdrawal of the receipt before filing a case with the Centre Region Administrative Court on October 14, seeking to suspend its legal effect. The convention ultimately went ahead as scheduled.
MRC Prepares Electoral Comeback After 2020 Boycott
These disputes matter for a party now preparing to return to elected office. In November 2019, Kamto announced that the MRC would boycott the February 9, 2020, parliamentary and municipal elections, citing the lack of a broadly agreed electoral reform and the continuing crisis in Cameroon's English-speaking regions. The decision left the party without parliamentary seats or municipal representatives from those elections.
The upcoming parliamentary and municipal elections will therefore be the MRC's first major national electoral test in several years. The challenge will be to translate its grassroots support into seats in the National Assembly and municipal councils after voluntarily sitting out the 2020 contests.
Noah takes over with strong backing from figures in the previous leadership. Previously the party's second vice president, she assumed the interim presidency following the successive departures of Kamto and first vice president Mamadou Mota. Mota subsequently endorsed her candidacy and coordinated her campaign. Djolako also threw his support behind Noah after withdrawing his own candidacy.
The convention did not, however, resolve all the disagreements that surfaced during the leadership race. Binyam attributed his withdrawal to concerns over the voter register and the rules governing delegates' participation, arguing that the conditions needed for a fair contest were no longer in place.
Noah's immediate challenges will be organizational as well as electoral. She must consolidate the leadership elected at the convention, prepare the party's candidate nominations and mobilize its local branches ahead of the elections.
After choosing to stay out of the 2020 parliamentary and municipal elections, the MRC now intends to return to the ballot box. Its ability to field candidates and win elected seats will provide the first concrete measure of the leadership transition.
Ludovic Amara