CHAD voted Sunday in a general election the government says is a key step towards ending military rule, with turnout expected to be low after the opposition called for a boycott.
Midday figures suggested a turnout of just 38 percent to choose a new parliament, provincial assemblies and local councils, according to the elections management agency ANGE.
Election officials in the upmarket district where the president’s family and ruling dignitaries live put voter apathy down to the “cold weather”.
But opposition parties have urged Chad’s eight million voters to shun the election, the results of which they say had been decided in advance.
They “have all stayed at home following our call, that is, the overwhelming majority,” Succes Masra, leader of the opposition Transformers party, told AFP.
he 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 that opposition candidates denounced 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”.
On Saturday, Masra had said: “The fabricated results are already in the computers.”
Herve Natouingan, 28, a construction worker turned motorbike taxi driver due to a lack of job prospects, said it was “pointless” to cast a ballot because “there’s no real voting in Chad”.
Patrice Lumumba Deoumoundou, an unemployed 39-year-old, told AFP 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 election management 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 the community’s representatives.