Cameroon

Paul Biya’s verified account was only active from 23 September 2011 to 6 October three days before the presidential elections. His 57 tweets are in both French and English, encouraging his followers to give him a clear majority: “We should win with an overwhelming majority in order to improve the living standards of our people”, promising that “Together we will continue to do great things”. Biya eventually secured a 6th term as president of Cameroon polling 77.9% of votes cast.

President Paul Biya’s campaign account was particularly active during the elections in October 2011 in which he won a 6th term in office which led him to tweet: “Slowly but surely, we are acquiring that famous culture of democracy, which is our objective.” His Twitter stream is a mix of the president’s official matters and announcements, and an occasional quote of wisdom. Generally he tweets which heads of state and ambassadors he has welcomed, sending congratulations and condolences to other world leaders and reporting which laws he has signed and which letters he has received. He tweets in French and in English. Almost every single tweet includes a link to the official government website. President Biya also tweets occasional quotes from former American presidents including Roosevelt, Lincoln, Carter and Washington and quotes from Martin Luther King. He does tweet occasional @replies like this one to “@thequeenofohio The first lady in Cameroon does not have an official Twitter account ;-)”