Chad presidential vote counting underway to usher in civilian rule

Votes are currently being counted in Chad after Monday's tense but 'peaceful' presidential election, which could see the first junta-led states in Africa transition to democratic rule.

On polling day, a voter was reportedly shot dead at a polling station in an "isolated incident".

The presidential election, in which 10 candidates are competing, is the final stage of the three-year transition led by General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, which has been marked by deep political and social tensions in the country since April 2021, but international rights groups have warned that the vote will be neither free nor fair.

The European Union (EU) has accused N'Djamena of preventing it from contributing to the credibility and transparency of the electoral process by not accrediting EU-funded local observers.

On Sunday, four civil society organisations, including the Citizen Alliance for Elections in Chad, (ACET), Observatory of Associations on the Electoral Process in Chad,(OAPET), the Chadian Human Rights League, (LTDH), and the Organisation of Non-State Actors, (OANET), lashed out at the National Election Management Agency, (ANGE), for refusing to accredit 2,900 of their representatives as observers of the vote.

A day after the vote, on Tuesday, the EU condemned the non-accreditation of the observers saying, by so doing, ANGE, whose members were appointed by the junta leader, “blocked their contribution to the transparency of the electoral process financed by €3.8 million of European funds.”

The head of the EU’s political mission to Chad, Sona Jarosova, confirmed to the AFP that the bloc had “supported observation by Chadian citizens with EU funds”.

General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno who seized power in the country after rebels killed his father, President Idriss Deby Itno (1990-2021) at the battlefield, had pledged to hand power to civilian rule in 18 months.

He did not respect the promise, extending the transition period by two years – sparking protests that were violently suppressed by security forces. Rights groups say over 300 people were killed but N’Djamena puts the toll of the October 2022 protests against the military rule at about 50.

The 40-year-old junta leader is seen as a favourite to easily win the polls after his main political rivals were either killed or barred from contesting.

Prominent opposition figure, Yaya Dillo Djerou Betchi, the president of the Socialist Party Without Borders who was largely seen as Deby’s chief election rival was killed in February.

Constitutional Council

The following month, the Constitutional Council, which validates candidacies and results of the vote disqualified at least ten candidates including Nassour Ibrahim Neguy Koursami, Rakhis Ahmat Saleh and Ahmat Hassaballah Soubiane, well-known vocal critics of the N’Djamena regime from competing.

Deby’s main challenger at Monday’s vote, transitional prime minister, Succes Masra is largely seen as a stooge of the N’Djamena regime being used to legitimize the Deby dynasty.

A former fierce critic of the N’Djamena regime, Masra was appointed Prime Minister of the transition government in January following his return from exile.

The International Crisis Group,(ICG), had said “a number of problems in the run-up to the balloting cast doubt on its credibility”.

The heavily criticised new constitution of the country, which gave Deby the son the leverage to run for Monday’s election also allows the poll management body to publish only regional tallies instead of results at each polling station.

This, according to the ICG, “will prevent observers from verifying results by adding up the numbers at polling stations”.

Despite the fears, the junta leader and his main challenger have hailed the Chadian people for their massive participation in the election with both expressing confidence for a first-round victory.

In a message on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, the junta leader paid a “well-deserved tribute to the Chadian people who went to the polls en masse, and peacefully to elect their leader”.

Deby said the serenity that characterized the process “wonderfully crystallizes the democratic maturity of the sovereign people of Chad”.

Masra on his part in a message the same day also hailed Chadians who he said came out massively, “in a patriotic momentum” to vote so and wished that “the counting continues in calm and serenity”, the prime minister also wrote of on his official Facebook page.

Though described as largely peaceful, the election was marred by the killing of a voter at a polling station in what authorities described as “an isolated incident”.

Provisional results are expected on May 21 and the outcome on June 5.

A second round will be held on June 22, in case no candidate wins with more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.