N’DJAMENA: Chadians voted Monday in an election aimed at ending three years of military rule but dismissed by opponents of junta leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno as a fix following violent repression.
The citizens will choose whether to extend three decades of Deby family rule, in a country crucial in the fight against terrorism across the Sahel desert region.
Deby’s main rival for president is Prime Minister Succes Masra, criticized as a stooge by critics in the absence of any other serious challengers. Both men have pledged a first-round win in the elections, which international rights groups warn will not be free or fair, AFP reported.
Shortly after the vote opened, turnout appeared relatively slow at five voting stations where AFP was present. Early in the campaign, observers predicted a massive victory for Deby, 40, whose main rival has been killed and others banned from contesting.
However, economist Masra, also aged 40, has garnered considerable support on the stump in recent weeks and could force a second round.
Surrounded by armed presidential guards, Deby was inaccessible to journalists but after voting declared his “commitment” to a “return to the constitutional order”, his Facebook page said.
He was proclaimed transitional president by fifteen generals in 2021 after his father, longtime leader Idriss Deby Itno, was assassinated in a gun battle with rebels after thirty years in power.
Known as MIDI for his initials and as “the Man in Dark Glasses”, Mahamat vowed an eighteen-month transition to democracy but later extended it by two years.
Opposition Silenced in Chad
Opposition figures have since fled, been silenced or joined Deby, while the junta has eliminated any attempts by civil society to campaign against it.
On October 20, 2022, the military and police opened fire on protestors demonstrating the transition extension, including members of Masra’s party, The Transformers.
At least three hundred young people died according to international NGOs, or about fifty according to the regime.
Deby’s cousin and chief election rival Yaya Dillo Djerou was shot point-blank in the head in a military assault on February 28, according to his party.
Masra was among the opponents driven out of Chad but later returned and was named prime minister in January.
The eight other candidates, either little known or considered not hostile to the regime, are not likely to win many votes.
