Voting under way in Chad’s contentious parliamentary election

Voters to choose a new parliament, provincial assemblies and local councils but the opposition has called for a boycott.

Voting is under way in Chad’s first parliamentary election in 13 years, which the government has presented as a key step towards ending military rule.

Voters will choose a new parliament, provincial assemblies and local councils in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The opposition has decided to boycott the votes in the North African nation of 18 million. Turnout was low in the capital N’Djamena when polling stations opened on Sunday.

Election officials in the upmarket district where the president’s family and ruling dignitaries live put voter apathy down to the “cold weather”.

Opposition parties have urged Chad’s eight million voters to shun elections whose results they said had been decided in advance.

The boycott leaves the field open for candidates aligned with President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, who was brought to power by the military in 2021 and then legitimised in a presidential election in May. Opposition candidates denounced this election as fraudulent.

“I urge all my compatriots on the electoral roll to come out and vote en masse,” Deby posted on Facebook, alongside photos of himself casting his ballot on what he called a “historic day”.

‘Nothing’s been done yet’

On Saturday, Succes Masra, leader of the opposition Transformers party, said: “The fabricated results are already in the computers.”

Patrice Lumumba Deoumoundou, an unemployed 39-year-old, told the AFP news agency he had voted Sunday morning in the hope of “change across the board” – more jobs, fewer price rises, “more justice” and “more equality”.

“Nothing’s been done yet,” he said.

As in previous elections, soldiers, police officers and nomads voted on Saturday for logistical reasons.

Chad’s electoral agency said there had been “record” turnout, with more than 72 percent in the army and 54 percent among nomads.

“There is a lot at stake locally in these elections,” it said.

“The nomads came to ask the people who will be elected tomorrow to improve their living conditions,” said Sheikh Djibrine Hassabakarim, one of their representatives.

He said climate change had made life hard for his community, killing livestock, triggering clashes among sedentary farmers and making it hard for them to feed their families.

Transition to democracy

Polling stations, which will remain open until 6:00pm (17:00 GMT), are being monitored by about 100 foreign election observers and representatives of political parties.

On Saturday evening, the opposition Democratic Party of the Chadian People (PDPT) said more than 1,000 ballots intended for the sub-prefecture of Bongor had disappeared.

It called for “vigilance” to “thwart the fraud networks” it said had been set up by the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party.

Voting is taking place against a backdrop of recurring attacks by the armed group Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region, the ending of a military accord with former colonial master France and accusations that Chad is interfering in the conflict ravaging neighbouring Sudan.

The government has presented the elections as the final stage in a transition to democracy.

Deby took power in 2021 after the death of his father, who had ruled the Sahel country for three decades.