Chad’s national poll body announced on Tuesday that the country will hold a presidential election on May 6, marking the conclusion of a three-year junta rule initiated by President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno after the demise of his father during a clash with rebels.
Mahamat Deby Itno, aged 37, assumed leadership of the army junta following the death of his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had seized power through a coup and governed the desert nation with an iron grip for thirty years. Despite initial promises to return power to civilians and organize elections within 18 months, Mahamat Deby Itno extended the transition period by an additional two years, pushing the deadline to October 10 of the current year.
“Beyond this date, the country will fall into a legal void, synonymous with foreseeable chaos,” warned Ahmet Bartchiret, president of the ANGE electoral commission on Tuesday, emphasizing the necessity to conduct the elections before the deadline.
In mid-January, the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party nominated Mahamat Deby Itno as its candidate for the upcoming presidential election. Despite initially informing the African Union that he would not run for president, a new constitution adopted in a mid-December referendum allows him to do so. The Chadian opposition has urged the president to refrain from seeking a new term.
Wakit Tamma, a prominent opposition and civil society group, accused the international community, particularly former colonial ruler France, of supporting “dynastic succession” and endorsing Mahamat Deby Itno’s “ambition to confiscate power, including by the use of force.”
The opposition and NGOs reported that between 100 and 300 young men were shot dead by security forces in the Chadian capital N’Djamena in October 2022 during peaceful demonstrations against the extension of the transitional government. Over 1,000 others were initially imprisoned, later pardoned, while dozens suffered torture or disappearance. Amnesty International criticized the lack of a “serious investigation” into the killings and accountability for those responsible.
In December 2023, a new constitution was adopted after a referendum, receiving an 86 percent vote in favor despite an opposition boycott.
