“Voters are summoned on October 9, 2011, to elect the president of the republic,” said a presidential decree.
In a single round of voting, Cameroonians will elect a new leader for a renewable seven-year term.
Biya’s party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, will hold a congress on September 15 and 16 to elect a leader who will be its election candidate.
The 78-year-old incumbent, at the helm since 1982, has not said whether he will seek reelection, but party spokesman Jacques Fame Ndongo, also minister for higher education, said last month that Biya will be the party’s candidate.
The opposition has demanded that Biya, one of Africa’s longest-ruling presidents, step down even though he has benefited from a 2008 constitutional amendment scrapping limits to presidential terms.
Reelected in disputed 2004 polls, Biya “should leave political life and enjoy a peaceful retirement,” the opposition African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM) said earlier this year.
More than 15 individuals, including two women, have announced their intention to run and the main opposition Social Democratic Front will announce its candidate next month.
Polling stations will open at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) and close at 6:00 pm on election day, said the decree.