# Biya promulgates Law 2008/001 removing the two-term presidential limit

Date: 2008

## The fact

On 14 April 2008 President [Paul Biya](/people/paul-biya) promulgated Law No. 2008/001 amending the 1996 Constitution so that the president ‘shall be eligible for re-election.’ The [National Assembly](/organizations/national-assembly) had adopted the bill on 10 April after Social Democratic Front deputies walked out.

## Context

He proposed the change in a New Year speech and signed the Act. Parliament voted. Opposition called it a hold-up.

10 April Assembly vote; 14 April promulgation. Stored as one 2008 assent Fact. Keep Biya promulgates Law 2008/001 removing the two-term presidential limit on 2008-04-14 separate from neighbouring Biya instruments.

The president of Cameroon is head of state and commander-in-chief. He promulgates laws the National Assembly has passed and is proclaimed by the Constitutional Council. He does not write Human Rights Watch reports, OHCHR mission annexes, Access Now filings, or AFP fact-checks.

## Evidence and sources

Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon / Legal Tools carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is electoral integrity and transfer capacity: a completed term-clock reset.

## What is established and what is not

Established: He promulgated Law 2008/001 on 14 April 2008 making the president indefinitely re-eligible.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The Assembly voted. Sharing passage is not a reason to drop the signature.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Biya promulgates Law 2008/001 removing the two-term presidential limit, not a later speech about Biya promulgates Law 2008/001 removing the two-term presidential limit.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Biya promulgates Law 2008/001 removing the two-term presidential limit on 2008-04-14 is not a licence to treat every later Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon / Legal Tools communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Biya promulgates Law 2008/001 removing the two-term presidential limit into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He promulgated. The Assembly voted. Sharing passage is not a reason to drop the signature. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Paul Biya: https://factrail.ai/people/paul-biya

## Drivers

- Biya Anglophone crisis and succession: https://factrail.ai/drivers/biya-anglophone-crisis-and-succession
- Electoral Integrity and Competitiveness: https://factrail.ai/drivers/electoral-integrity-and-competitiveness
- Capacity for Peaceful Transfer of Power: https://factrail.ai/drivers/capacity-for-peaceful-transfer-of-power

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/economy/cameroons-biya-signs-law-allowing-third-term-bid-idUSL15296024/
- https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/cf5e84/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/cm-biya-term-limits-2008