Chad holds long-delayed presidential vote | DW News

Chad holds long-delayed presidential vote | DW News

voters in Chad are casting their ballots in a long delayed presidential election that set to end three years of military rule while there are 10 candidates on the ballot chances are the current military leader Muhammad Debi will come out on top the opposition says the election is just a formality to keep power in the hands of the debit Dynasty he’s already Chad’s interim president and now he wants to make it official his dad ruled Chad for three decades and Muhammad Debbie wants to consolidate the family [Music] Dynasty it’s not easy to lead a transition in Chad but for three years I ensured the continuity of the state I preserve the unity of our country I preserve peace I believe I have honored my commitments Debbie has long said he was committed to not run for president when the fourstar general took the helm following the death of his father in 2021 he promised to hand back power to a civilian government within 18 months but he didn’t violent protests broke out in 2022 when Debbie extended his interim presidency official reports claim 50 people were killed in the ensuing government Crackdown but rots groups say the number is higher and included summary executions of protesters Debbie denied any government involvement in December last year Chad held a referendum on a new Constitution which the Juna said would be a key step towards a return to civilian Rule and democracy the opposition said it paved the way for Debbie to cement his grip on power the list of presidential contenders has shrunk rapidly as opposition candidates have been banned from running Debbie’s main rival Yaya dillow was shot dead in an army assault on party headquarters in February Human Rights Watch says he was killed point blank with a single Bullet to the Head the only other remaining candidate is Sak masra the current prime minister of Chad masra was a former opponent of and the organizer of the 2022 protests but in a surprised twist Debbie appointed him prime minister in January after giving him amnesty and allowing him to return from Exile it’s all a front for plurality opponents of Debbie say leaving little real choice for chadians and guaranteeing the heir to the throne remains in power we can now talk to Olu o w he’s an expert on the Sahel region and an analyst with the institute for security studies in dhar in Sagal thanks for being with us now past elections in Chad have not generally been free and fair will this time be any different thank you so much for having me I don’t think it’s going to be different in terms of what the election outcome is going to look like because it appears the president is just contesting against himself the leading opposition was um summarily removed in a very controversial situation recently and I think that has actually cast the doubt on um the quality of the Electoral outcome that we see in the coming days in Chad still it is an election we can see people standing in line to vote what’s at stake in this election for the people of Chad well I think looking at the way the transition referendum took place majority of Charan citizens actually want a change in terms of the political Direction in terms of um what the term limit should look like and even a system of government that they want to practice moving from the unitary system to a more federal system um but the moment the transition went the way it went in terms of what the outcome looks like I think the coming election is just about ticking the Box not really addressing the concern of the people because um the supreme leader is running against himself the country chat is quite divided are the election results likely to be accepted by all parties contesting this election it depends on the way they align as far as this election is concerned if the opposition are also surrogate for the for Debby then you might not really see so much in terms of the push back on their part when the election result is announced uh I think the more important thing is what is going to be the full ramification of these in chart considering the security situation across that bed from Mali up to Sudan and then how much of CH is going to really translate into a A playbook that other Jun in the region are going to be deploying as they also move towards democratic transition in the days to come but in terms of internal policies of child we can’t really speak with certainty what is going to happen after this election depending on how much of opposition is silent in the process you’re talking about the the Sahel region there the Western Sahel we’ve seen several coups there in uh various countries in recent years often linked to anti-french sentiment and growing resentment towards other former Colonial Powers how could this election impact the fight for influence in the region um this election is very very strategic in the sense that it is happening at the time that um we are witnessing the displacement of Western Alliance in the region and that is been sued by by Russia interest in the region so I think uh broadly if things continue to go in this direction in a situation in which people are removing their khaki to contest and put themselves on the ballot um two things are about to happen one is that we are seeing the Resurgence of the Cold War Hera alignment and realignment in the region in which Western establishment are been place are being supplanted by by the Russian influence the second thing is that maybe it is not yet uru as they say in in East Africa because um if the condition in which they emerge create a lot of division in the country then it can set um it can set a template for a spiral effect in the coming days in terms of political instability particularly around ol thank you very much for talking with us that was ol o with The Institute for security studies thank you so much for having me

Voters in Chad are casting their ballots in a long-delayed presidential election that is set to end three years of military rule. While there are ten candidates on the ballot, chances are the current military leader Mahamat Déby will come out on top. The opposition says the election is just a formality to keep power in the hands of the Déby dynasty.

00:00 Intro and report
02:55 Interview with Oluwole Ojewale, an analyst with the Institute for Security Studies in Dakar in Senegal.

#chad #elections2024 #deby

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