On Monday May 6, 2024, Chad held its presidential election. The aim was to put an end to the transition in which the country found itself following the death of Field Marshal Idriss Deby Itno in the North on April 20, 2021. To everyone's surprise, on May 8, just three days after the end of the election, the Agence Nationale de Gestion des Elections (ANGE) published the final results. With 61.03% of the vote, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was declared winner in the first round. Shooting ensued throughout the country. These were referred to as "joy shootings", whereas everything seemed to point to acts of intimidation against opposition supporters. More than 20 people lost their lives, while hundreds were injured.
Since the death of Idriss Deby Itno on April 20, 2021, Chad has lived through a transition marked by troubling and often violent events. While the Chadian Constitution stipulated that in the event of the President's unavailability or death, he would be replaced by the President of the National Assembly, the political scene has instead seen the emergence of a Military Transition Committee (CMT).
The CMT arrogated all powers to itself, while propelling Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno alias MIDI, son of the late president, to the head of the country. On October 20, 2022, when the country was abuzz with demonstrations calling on the military to end the transition as promised and return to their barracks, the country was instead treated to carnage. People who had gone out to demonstrate in response to calls from civil society and the opposition were massacred. Figures vary according to the source. Chadian civil society spoke of at least 300 dead, while officials put the death toll at 75, mainly from gunshot wounds. The army took care to cordon off the country, invading the streets of the capital and many inland towns, killing and wounding demonstrators with their bare hands. This was a clear indication of the junta's determination to hold on to power by any means necessary, including force of arms.
On February 28, opposition politician Yaya Djilo, cousin of Mahamat Deby and leader of the Parti Socialiste sans Frontières (PSF), was killed along with a number of his supporters at his party's headquarters. He was accused of having attacked the buildings of the National Security Agency. These and other events were already indicative of Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno's fierce determination to succeed himself at the end of the transition, and even to seize power.
The electoral process, which has been marked by violence, bears witness to the determination of the ruling power in Ndjamena to endure beyond the turmoil and turpitudes, through violence of all kinds. In a country as large as Chad, the hasty announcement of election results (just three days after the polls) is a travesty. Chad, a country of 1.284 million km², has 23 provinces and 107 departments. During the last election, 8,202,207 (eight million two hundred and two thousand two hundred and seven) voters took part in the ballot, in over 20,000 polling stations.
For one of the world's poorest countries, the proclamation of results is likely to be a lengthy process. The ANGE (Agence Nationale de Gestion des Elections) authorities themselves estimated that the vote count would take at least two weeks.
But then, 3 days later, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was announced the winner by the same agency. Such an announcement takes Chadian democrats by surprise, as they thought they'd put an end to blood-stained political dynasties and anachronistic longevity. Regimes that derive their legitimacy from medieval subsidiary management, with little regard for the well-being of the population.
TIENTCHEU KAMENI Maurice
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