President Chad elected following years of military control

People in Chad went to vote on Monday to choose a new president. This will end three years of military control by Mahamat Deby Itno.

Deby Itno became the new leader after his father, who was in charge of the country for over 30 years, was killed while fighting against rebels in 2021. Last year, the government said it was giving more time for the transition period by two years, which made people protest everywhere in the country.

There are 10 people running for election, and one of them is a woman. Around 8 million people in a country with over 17 million people, which is one of the poorest in the world, can vote. Experts believe that Deby Itno will likely win the election. Yaya Dillo, a top opponent of the current president, who is also his cousin, was killed in February in a way that is still not understood.

The country, which exports oil and has about 18 million people, hasn’t had a fair change of government since it gained independence in 1960 from French rule.

The US and France think Chad is one of the few steady friends in the big Sahel area, especially after other countries had military takeovers. The leaders in all three countries have kicked out French forces and asked for help from Russian mercenary groups instead.

Earlier this year, Niger’s military rulers told all US soldiers to leave. This means that the US will no longer be able to use its important base in Agadez for fighting terrorism in the region. The US and France have soldiers in Chad and think it’s a very important place to work together.

The West is also worried that if Chad becomes unstable, it could cause more people to leave and try to go to Europe.

Ulf Laessing, who leads the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, says these are the reasons why the West is not saying much about Chad’s move toward democracy. “Everyone wants the vote to pass so Deby Itno can be elected, and they can keep working with him to maintain stability in the region,” he said.

Chad is facing high food prices because of the war in Ukraine and the threat of Boko Haram coming from Nigeria. They also have refugees from Sudan to take care of.

In March, a group called Boko Haram attacked and killed seven soldiers. This made people worried about violence in the Lake Chad area again, even though there had been peace after the Chadian army stopped the group in 2020. Schools, mosques and churches opened again and humanitarian groups came back.

“Jean, a teacher at a school in Moyen-Chari province, said that for many years we have struggled with the expensive cost of living and have not found a solution. ” “We want things to be different this year by choosing new leaders in the election,” he said.

Boko Haram started a rebellion over ten years ago against schools that teach Western ideas, and wants to create Islamic rules in the northeastern part of Nigeria. The fighting has moved to countries next to West Africa like Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Human rights organizations want officials to look into the death of Chad’s top opposition leader, Dillo. The government said that Dillo was killed when his group, The Socialist Party Without Borders, attacked the National State Security Agency. But a picture of Dillo showed that he was shot and killed with just one bullet to the head.

Human Rights Watch said they are very worried about the election’s safety because of the killing.

“Déby Itno is very likely to win the election because his main opponents have been removed and the people in charge of the election support him,” said Michelle Gavin from a think tank in Washington DC.

Votes will be counted at the polling stations after they close at 5pm. We will know the preliminary results on May 21st, three weeks later. If no candidate wins, there will be another election on June 5.