YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Chad's electoral commission has asked the central African state’s military to help protect election officials and candidates amid a spike 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 campaigning for the parliamentary, local council and regional elections has been plagued by attempts to disrupt rallies and attacks on candidates and elections officials.
Chadian officials say the elections will mark an end to the central African state’s three-year “transitional period” following the April 2021 death of longtime President Idriss Deby Itno.
ANGE Vice President Assane Bairra said ongoing tensions may worsen into armed conflicts if Chad's military fails to deploy troops.
ANGE reported that more than 8.3 million of Chad's 18 million civilians have registered to vote.
About 180 political parties have put forward nearly 1,300 candidates to compete in the country's parliamentary elections, with several thousand others taking part in local council and provincial elections, according to Chad's government.
More than 1,000 election observers have been accredited for the polls.
However, a coalition of over 75 opposition parties and civil society groups describe the planned polls as a “masquerade,” saying that Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and his Patriotic Salvation Movement, or MPS, are planning to use the polls to consolidate their grip on power.
Opposition and civil society groups said their supporters this week used clubs and iron bars to attack MPS campaign caravans in several towns, including Ndjamena, Bongor, Abeche, Lai and Moundou.
In other areas, the military said, it has dismantled roadblocks set up by opposition parties to prevent MPS campaigners from entering towns.
Avocksouma Djona, president of Chad's Party of Democrats, said his supporters have been blocking campaigners from both MPS and the opposition from holding election rallies.
He said his party wants elections to be postponed because all the officials of Chad's elections management body were appointed by Deby. He also said Deby controls Chad's constitutional court and has instructed the court to declare his party victorious in all elections.
ANGE organizes elections and declares provisional results. The country's constitutional court declares final results. Deby appoints officials to both institutions.
Deby told state TV this week that elections for Chad to fully return to civilian rule will be fair and transparent. Opposition groups quickly dismissed that claim, saying the Chadian leader wants to rig the polls to ensure control of parliament.
Deby became Chad's transitional president in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed in a gun battle with rebels following 30 years in power. He promised an 18-month transition to civilian rule but extended it by two years.
Deby won Chad's contested May 6 presidential polls, which many opposition parties boycotted, asserting that Deby wanted at all costs to continue his late father's rule.
