Chad’s electoral commission has asked the Central African state’s military to help protect election officials and candidates amid a surge in attacks ahead of Dec. 29 elections.
Witnesses say opposition supporters have used clubs and iron bars to prevent the ruling MPS party from holding rallies in several cities and towns.
The national election management agency in Chad, known as ANGE, said efforts to disrupt rallies and attacks on candidates and election officials had affected the campaign for parliamentary, local council and regional elections.
Chadian officials say the election will mark the end of the Central African state’s three-year “transitional period” following the death of longtime President Idriss Deby Itno in April 2021.
ANGE vice-president Assane Barra said the ongoing tension could escalate into armed conflict if Chad’s military fails to deploy troops.
ANGE reported that more than 8.3 million of Chad’s 18 million citizens have registered to vote.
According to the government of Chad, approximately 180 political parties have put forward approximately 1,300 candidates to compete in the country’s parliamentary elections, while several thousand others are running in local council and provincial elections.
More than 1,000 election observers have been accredited for the elections.
However, a coalition of more than 75 opposition parties and civil society groups described the planned elections as a “arbitrage”, saying Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno and his Patriotic Liberation Movement, or MPS, would consolidate their hold. Are planning to use elections to. On power.
Opposition and civil society groups said their supporters used clubs and iron bars to attack MPS campaign caravans in several towns this week, including N’Djamena, Bongor, Abeche, Lae and Moundou.
In other areas, the army said, it had destroyed roadblocks set up by opposition parties to prevent MPS campaigners from entering cities.
Avxouma Jonna, president of Chad’s Party of Democrats, said his supporters were preventing campaigners from both the MPS and the opposition from holding election rallies.
He said his party wanted the elections to be postponed because all officials of Chad’s election management body were appointed by Déby. He also said that Déby controls Chad’s constitutional court and has instructed the court to declare his party victorious in all elections.
ANGE conducts elections and declares provisional results. The country’s Constitutional Court declares the final results. Déby appoints officials to both institutions.
Deby told state TV this week that the elections would be fair and transparent to return Chad to full civilian rule. Opposition groups immediately rejected that claim, saying Chadian leaders were seeking to rig the elections to ensure control of parliament.
Déby became transitional president of Chad in April 2021 after his father, Idris Déby Itno, was killed in a gun battle with rebels after 30 years in power. He promised an 18-month transition to civilian rule but extended it by two years.
Déby won the May 6 presidential election in Chad, which was boycotted by many opposition parties who said Déby wanted to continue his late father’s rule at all costs.