- Chad approves 10 for presidential race, excludes key opponents
- Elections mark Chad’s democratic transition amid regional coups concern
- Opposition condemns election as masquerade to sustain dynastic dictatorship
The Chadian government has approved ten candidates for the long-awaited presidential election of this year; however, two staunch opponents of the military government have been excluded from the race.
On Sunday, the Constitutional Council of Chad declared that Rakhis Ahmat Saleh and Nassour Ibrahim Neguy Koursami, two outspoken opposition figures, would be denied entry.
The notification stated that the application submissions were deemed “irregularities” and subsequently rejected.
The nominations of interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby and the country’s newly appointed prime minister, Succes Masra, were accepted, according to the council.
The initial phase of presidential elections in the central African country is slated for May 6, followed by the second phase on June 22. Provisional results are expected to be made available on July 7.
The elections are an integral component of a democratic transition that has ensued since the military government of Chad assumed power, one of several in West and Central Africa at the time.
Due to the eight regional coups since 2020, a democratic backslide has become a concern.
In Chad’s political history annals, a presidential election will mark the inaugural encounter between a sitting president and a prime minister.
Deby initially committed to conducting elections within 18 months after he assumes power in 2021, after the demise of his long-ruling father in confrontations with rebel forces.
Later, however, his administration passed resolutions that allowed him to run for president and postponed elections until 2024; security forces violently repressed the ensuing demonstrations.
Chadians voted in December in favour of a new constitution that, according to its detractors, could have helped Deby consolidate his hold on power by permitting him to run for president.
This month, Deby formally declared his intention to run for office.
Masra, who was previously an ardent critic of Chad’s military regime, withdrew from the country in October 2022 following the deaths of scores of protesters at demonstrations in the capital, N’Djamena, at the hands of security forces.
He returned after signing a reconciliation agreement in November, which ensured his eligibility to engage in political activities.
Subsequently, several opposition parties have severed ties with Masra.
Demand a boycott
Wakit Tamma, one of the principal opposition platforms in Chad, condemned the presidential election on Saturday as a “masquerade” designed to maintain a “dynastic dictatorship” and demanded a boycott.
The exclusion of opposition candidates occurs nearly one month following the fatal shooting of Yaya Dillo Djerou, General Deby’s principal adversary, during an army incursion on the PSF party headquarters.
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Human Rights Watch demanded an independent investigation into the assassination of Dillo at the beginning of March, citing the army assault as a source of “grave environmental concerns in advance of the May elections.
Prime Minister Masra subsequently committed that his administration would initiate an international inquiry to ascertain accountability for the demise of the principal adversary of the military government.
