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The elections take place in a context of violence and spiraling unrest in the north and south-west of the country.
President Paul Biya has been leading the country since 1982. Observers say that he is almost certain to win the elections, which means he will be 92 years old at the end of this term.
Biya has often won the previous election by a landslide. In the last election in 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that Biya won 77 percent of the vote against 22 other candidates.
Sunday's elections will be the eleventh presidential election since Cameroon's independence in 1960. There are nine candidates, six of whom are running for the first time.
The former Minister of Justice, Maurice Kamto, heads the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (RCM) party.
About seven million voters should vote. According to Cameroonian law, election results must be announced within 15 days.
The security situation in the country has deteriorated considerably since 2017, when government security forces and English-speaking separatists, who declared independence and tried to form their own country called Ambazonia, erupted in the northern and southwestern regions.
Many Cameroonians have fled the English-speaking region to other parts of the country and to neighboring countries such as Nigeria. Therefore, it is to be feared that voters will no longer show up.
Dreadful videos and images of abuse, murder and torture allegedly directed by Cameroonian soldiers have flooded social media in recent months.
CNN has not been able to verify these images independently.
However, one of these shocking videos, which has become viral online, shows the execution of two women and two children by men in uniform and has aroused widespread condemnation.
The human rights group Amnesty International claims to have "credible information" about the involvement of Cameroonian soldiers.
The agency said: "An in-depth analysis of the weapons, dialogues and uniforms featured in the video, as well as digital verification techniques and field evidence, strongly suggest that perpetrators of Cameroonian soldiers ".
