On 6 May, Chad held presidential elections that formally ended the three-year rule of the country’s transitional military government. Former interim president, Mahamat Déby, of the Patriotic Salvation Movement (Mouvement Patriotique du Salut, MPS) won the election in the first round, receiving 61.03 per cent of the vote, according to official results declared by Chad’s election agency, the Agence nationale de gestion des élections (ANGE) and confirmed by the Constitutional Council (le Conseil constitutionnel). Prime Minister Succès Masra, of Les Transformateurs came in second place with 18.54 per cent. The election was contested by ten candidates, only one of whom, Lydie Beassemda, is a woman. Voter turnout was reported to be 75.89 per cent of registered voters. The election results were unsuccessfully challenged in the Constitutional Council by Masra, who alleged irregularities, including ballot stuffing. Two thousand nine hundred civil society members trained by the European Union were denied accreditation to observe the election by the ANGE , but it was observed by international observers from the Economic Community of West African States and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, which declared it to have been free and fair.

Sources: Jeune Afrique (1), Jeune Afrique (2), Voice of America, International IDEA, The Conversation, Tchad Infos

On 24 March, Chad’s Constitutional Council announced that 10 of the 20 candidates for the forthcoming presidential election in May had been barred due to ‘irregularities’ in their applications. Amongst the excluded candidates were two outspoken critics of the government, Nasour Ibrahim Neguy Koursami and Rakhis Ahmat Saleh, the former of which is reported to be the subject of a preliminary criminal investigation by the Constitutional Council for suspected forgery in relation to his application. According to ISS Africa, a research institute, the law applied by the Council to exclude Koursami and another candidate, Clément Bagaou, was obsolete. The candidates approved to compete in the election were regarded by analysts, diplomats and the political opposition as offering little serious challenge to incumbent, Interim President Mahamat Idriss Déby Into. The barring of opposition candidates follows the death in February 2024 of leading opposition figure, Yaya Dillo Djerou, during an army assault.   

Sources: Jeune Afrique (1), Jeune Afrique (2), Al Jazeera, Voice of America, ISS Africa  

On 28 February, leader of the Socialist Party without Borders (Parti Socialiste Sans Frontières, PSF), Yaya Dillo Djerou died after a series of violent confrontations between his party and security forces. First, on 19 February, the PSF was accused of plotting to assassinate the president of the Supreme Court. A senior official in the PSF, Abakar Torabi, was accused of instigating that plot and was arrested by the internal intelligence services (Agence nationale de sécurité de l’État, ANSE). PSF supporters are alleged to have attacked the ANSE headquarters on 27 February. Finally, on 28 February the security services attacked the PSF headquarters, taking control of the facility after an intense exchange of gunfire. The PSF headquarters were later demolished. The exact circumstances of Dillo’s death are unclear; he may have been mortally wounded in the attack on ANSE on 27 February or killed at the PSF headquarters on 28 February. He was viewed as one of the main challengers to interim president Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno in the elections now scheduled for May.

Sources: Jeune Afrique (1), Jeune Afrique (2), Jeune Afrique (3), France24, The East African

On 1 January, the transitional government announced that opposition politician Succès Masra was appointed Prime Minister. The appointment came after Masra returned from self-imposed exile in November 2023, having reached an agreement with the government of Mahamat Idriss Déby that allowed him to resume political activities in the country. Masra is the leader of the Transformers party (Les Transformateurs) Along with his support for the ratification of the new constitution in December, joining the government has caused concern among other opposition parties, and even within the Transformers party. Mr. Masra has stated that he will continue to push for elections to take place.

Sources: Africa News, France24, Voice of America, Al Jazeera