Chad
Map: Everest700, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Berlin. – The citizens of the Central African nation Chad are voting on Sunday in parliamentary, regional and municipal elections for the first time in more than a decade. The military government had the elections delayed serveral times, due to «financial problems» and the Covid-19 pandemic. Opposition voices are sceptical whether the Central African country is really on a democratic path.
Officials in the capital N’djamena declared, that the election will formally end a three-year «transitional period» after the death of the former leader Idriss Deby, who died in the 2021. His son forcefully took over. Mahamat Idriss Deby was confirmed as the country’s president after an election in May.
Many opposition party members are boycotting the polls. They called them a «masquerade» and accused the Debry government and his «Patriotic Salvation Movement» (MPS) of trying to legitimise a «political dynasty».
Chad is one of Africa’s poorest countries, ruled by the Deby family since 1991. It is first of the coup-hit states in the Sahel region to hold elections. But human rights groups said without full opposition participation, the election could not be free and fair.
«It will be difficult to have a credible election without inclusivity,» Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s country director in Nigeria, told Al Jazeera. «That some are boycotting the election shows that there must be a review of the process and system to ensure that a level playing field is provided to accommodate all Chadians.»
The Elections
According to Al Jazeera,
- some 8.3 million registered voters of the country’s 18-million population will vote for legislators in the country’s 188-seat parliament. Parties need 95 seats for a majority.
- More than 100 political parties have put forward some 1,100 candidates for the parliamentary elections. Winners are elected by a first-past-the-post or a more-than-half majority method, depending on the constituency size.
- Voters will also choose regional and local governments across 22 regions and the capital, N’Djamena.
The Transformers Party, as well as other opposition parties, are boycotting the elections. The argue that the vote will be neither free nor fair.
