Chadians began voting on Sunday for or against a new constitution intended to pave the way for elections and a civilian return to power, promised by the military junta two and a half years ago but postponed until the end of 2024.
A significant part of the opposition and civil society has called for a boycott of this referendum, which they see as a referendum to prepare the election of the current interim president, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, and to maintain a “dynasty”. It was inaugurated 33 years ago by his late father after a coup.
The “yes” seems to be the favorite: the military power waged a large-scale campaign that nullified the “no” or boycott.
He also ensured the gathering of one of his main opponents until then, Succès Masra, who had been calling for a “yes” vote in this Central African state for more than a year in the face of a divided and violently repressed opposition, according to the UN, making it the second least developed country in the world.
As AFP journalists noted, polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. (06:00 GMT) and must close at 5:00 p.m. (16:00 GMT).
The provisional official results must be announced on December 24th and the Supreme Court must confirm them on the 28th.
At a polling station in N'Djamena, not far from the presidential palace, a shy line of voters formed behind President Déby, who had come to take part in the vote.
“Every ballot that is thrown into the ballot box is another step towards stability and prosperity for our country,” said the Chadian president, who was the first to throw his ballot into the ballot box.
In N'Djamena there are posters on the walls advocating a “yes” to a constitution with a view to a “unitary and decentralized state”, not really different from the one that the military abolished in 2021 and installed a regime that the state leader concentrates most of the power.
A fringe of the opposition that supports the No side supports federalism. The unitary state is the only way to preserve unity; federalism would promote “separatism” and “chaos,” counters the “yes” camp.
“Deby Dynasty”
The two main platforms of parties and civil society organizations hostile to the junta have called for a boycott, hoping the low turnout would delegitimize a general they blame for maintaining the “Deby dynasty.”
This referendum “is a plebiscite (…) of the authorities, it simply aims to legitimize the dynasty that they want to impose on us,” assures AFP Max Loalngar, coordinator of one of them, Wakit Tamma Telephone from a country of exile that he does not want to name.
Mahamat Déby, 37, was appointed interim president by the army on April 20, 2021, at the head of a junta of 15 generals, after his father Idriss Déby Itno was killed by rebels on the way to the front. He had ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 30 years.
The young general promised immediate elections after an 18-month transition period and pledged to the African Union not to run. Eighteen months later, his regime extended the transition by two years and allowed him to run in presidential elections scheduled for late 2024.
Opposition suppressed
On the anniversary of the 18-month transition, October 20, 2022, between 100 and more than 300 young men and teenagers were shot dead by police and soldiers in N'Djamena, according to the opposition and national and international NGOs.
They demonstrated against the two-year extension.
According to NGOs and the opposition, more than a thousand people were detained before being pardoned, but dozens were tortured or disappeared.
Since this “Black Thursday”, demonstrations have been systematically banned and many opposition leaders have been hunted down and fled Chad.
“To ensure legitimacy, opposition parties and their activists must have the freedom to meet and campaign. Otherwise, there is a risk that the referendum will be perceived as a means of transforming the interim government into a permanent government,” feared the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) in October.