Chad has adopted resolutions that push back democratic elections by two years and allow interim leader Mahamat Idriss Deby to stay in power and be eligible to run for president.
These decisions will face “resistance from political parties, civil society, and the African Union,” said Chadian political scientist Evariste Ngarlem, reports Africa News. He then added, “neither the European Union nor the United States would accept Deby’s eligibility to run or the extended transition period.”
The military authorities originally promised an 18-month transition when Mahamat Deby took power in April 2021 following the death of his father, Idriss Deby, who was killed on the battlefield in a conflict with insurgents.
Under the new draft, approved on October 1st, the transition that was scheduled to end in October, has been extended by two years. This means that elections would take place, at the earliest, around October 2024.
It also allows Mahamat Deby to remain in power until the vote. His transitional military council will dissolve and be replaced with a transitional government, appointed by Deby himself.
Opposition leader Brice Mbaimon Guedmbaye denounced the new provisions imposed during the ongoing national talks, stating that “there are lobbies that are doing everything to keep the junta in power against the will of the people.”
Weakened by conflict and drought, Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world and one with some of the highest levels of starvation. It has endured repeated uprisings and unrest since gaining independence from France in 1960. According to the World Food Program, about 2 million people there are facing severe food shortages this year.