An uneasy calm hangs over Chad, where the opposition is calling for an immediate end to the country’s transitional government and the cancellation of the Dec. 29 general elections, which the opposition says were highly boycotted. Chad's elections management body has pledged to count the votes and declare the results, saying irregularities cannot influence the outcome.
Assane Bairra, vice president of Chad's National Agency for the Management of Elections (ANGE), said vote counting is under way after the central African state’s local, provincial and parliamentary elections on Sunday.
The elections were scheduled to end Chad's three-year transition period following the death of longtime President Idriss Deby Itno in April 2021. The late president’s son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, was declared the winner of the presidential election in May.
Provisional results for the latest polls are expected by Jan. 15, ANGE said.
Assane said ANGE has successfully executed its mission of ending the transitional period by organizing free, fair and transparent elections. The elections body said about 36% of Chad's estimated 8.3 million registered voters took part in Sunday's poll.
But opposition parties maintain that turnout was much lower, saying civilians respected opposition calls for a massive boycott.
Avocksouma Djona is spokesperson for Chad's Political Actors Consultation Group, or GCAP, a coalition of several dozen political parties. At a press conference on Monday in the capital, N'djamena, said more than 90% of about 8.3 million registered voters adhered to GCAP’s boycott calls. They did so, he said, because civilians learned from Chad's May 6 presidential elections that Deby wants to extend his late father’s long rule. Avocksouma said Chadians are angry because Deby is a dictator who silences all critical voices.
In a statement Monday, Succes Masra, president of The Transformers, one of Chad's leading opposition political parties, called for a new transition. It should be marked by truth, dialogue and reconciliation to lay the foundations of a stable and inclusive political system, he said.
Masra, who served as prime minister under transitional President Deby, said ongoing tensions in the central African state may degenerate into violence and social strife.
Avocksouma said he is certain that despite the massive boycott, ANGE will still proclaim Deby's ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement as the winners of the Dec. 29 elections.
Ahead of the vote, opposition parties accused Deby of rigging the elections, a charge Deby denies.
Yamingue Betinbaye is a political analyst at the University of N'djamena. He spoke to VOA on Monday via a messaging group.
The analyst told VOA that although the opposition has legitimate claims that the boycott was massive and there were irregularities including the stuffing of ballot boxes to rig elections for Deby, it is unlikely that the polls will be annulled as the opposition requests.
The Chadian government said calls for the elections to be annulled and for a new transition are intended to cause chaos and sink Chad into violence. The government said civilians should not obey opposition calls to destabilize their country by going out onto the streets to protest.
