Cameroon’s President Paul Biya announced on Tuesday evening a “slight readjustment” of the timing of legislative and municipal elections that were expected at the start of February.

Originally scheduled for 2025, the elections had already been postponed once until early 2026. No new date was set.

In his televised address on the occasion of the 60th Youth Day, a rare public appearance by the nearly 93-year-old head of state, Biya justified the postponement by citing “certain compelling constraints”, while assuring that “the relevant provisions of the laws, and particularly the Constitution, would be respected”.

He also promised to form a new government, having announced its dissolution in his annual speech on New Year’s Eve.

In his speech, he acknowledged the difficulty many young Cameroonians have in finding work, but also called on them to avoid “delinquency, alcohol abuse drug use, and excessive use of social media”.

Cameroon’s Youth Day is traditionally one of the few times the president addresses the nation directly.

Biya, the world’s oldest head of state, has been in power since 1982 and was re-elected in October to an eighth term, leading to protests that were violently suppressed.