The election will take place on May 6, 2024, and end a three-year transition period led by Mahamat Déby after the sudden death of his father in April 2021.
Chad votes with 30-year ruler Idriss Deby poised for sixth win
Monday April 12 2021
Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno casts his ballot at a polling station in N djamena, on April 11, 2021. PHOTO | AFP
Summary
Deby urged voters at his final rally on Friday to turn out massively , but many residents have voiced disinterest in an election whose outcome already appears certain.
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Chad headed into presidential elections Sunday with Idriss Deby Itno, ruler for the last three decades, set to win a sixth term.
A key ally in the West s anti-jihadist campaign in the Sahel, Deby, 68, is the frontrunner in a six-candidate race without major rivals, after a campaign in which demonstrations were banned or dispersed.
Opinion: France keeps Chad despot Idriss Deby in power
In April, Idriss Deby will vie for a sixth term as president of Chad. He could not have remained in power so long without being propped up by the former colonial power, DW s Eric Topona writes.
Idriss Deby s reign is safe from domestic dissidents so long as he has backing in Europe
With the help of France, on December 1, 1990, Idriss Deby successfully toppled the government of Chadian President Hissene Habre, to whom he had long been loyal. The coup ended one of the bloodiest dictatorships on the African continent.
That day, Deby told the people of Chad, who had been yearning for justice, freedom and prosperity, that he would bring them not gold or silver but freedom and democracy. On April 11, Deby will be vying for a sixth term as president, with neither gold nor silver, nor democracy for that matter, in sight.