Presidential election in Chad: citizens’ votes must count

03/05/2024
Press release
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Denis Sassou Gueipeur / AFP

The presidential election of 6 May 2024 should mark the return to constitutional order in Chad after the coup d’état of April 2021. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Ligue tchadienne des droits de l’Homme (LTDH) and the Association Tchadienne pour la promotion des droits humains (ATPDH) are concerned about the human rights situation and the credibility of the election. They are calling for the deployment of international observers to monitor the election in order to protect Chad from a post-election crisis.

3 May 2024. The presidential election in Chad on the 6 May 2024 will take place in a degraded context marked by the mistrust in the electoral institutions and by the multiplication of human rights violations, including the violent repression of peaceful protests, attacks on human rights defenders, and the rule of impunity. The death of opposition politician Yaya Dillo in circumstances that have yet to be clarified, despite the Prime Minister’s promise of an international enquiry, has further exacerbated the crisis of confidence.

For several years, FIDH has been warning about the silencing of voices in favour of genuine democracy in Chad, which has been a feature of successive regimes for more than thirty years. In addition, frequent irregularities are observed during the electoral process, some of which were already reported during the pre-electoral period. The signatory organisations are concerned about an election that appears to be neither credible, free nor democratic.

The institutional and electoral reforms carried out by the Chadian government have not been inclusive and have not led to the establishment of consensual institutions. Since [the constitutional referendum of 17 December 2023, which strengthened the powers of the President of the Republic, the Chadian authorities have created institutions by appointing personalities close to the Mouvement patriotique du Salut (MPS), the ruling regime’s party, to head them. On 29 and 30 January, the President of the transition, Mahamat Idriss Déby, signed three decrees appointing members of the Constitutional Council and the National Election Management Agency (ANGE). The Agence nationale de gestion des élections (ANGE) is also dominated by the MPS coalition. To promote confidence in the electoral process, it is essential to have independent, impartial electoral bodies.

"The establishment of the Constitutional Council and of ANGE, which are both major electoral institutions, has been criticised by civil society and the opposition. It is up to these institutions to demonstrate transparency and integrity in order to give credibility to the results that will be proclaimed at the end of the presidential election’, said Drissa Traoré, FIDH Secretary General, “We urge the international community to put an end to the Chadian exception by objectively ensuring the fairness of the vote and, if necessary, by setting up a system for certifying the elections in order to protect Chad from a post-electoral crisis”.

The monitoring of the election by national and international observers must be guaranteed by the Chadian state. The Chadian authorities must meet all the conditions to allow independent monitoring of the vote and the counting throughout the country so that voters have confidence in the authenticity of the election.

"In order to promote the transparency of the ballot, it is essential to allow national civil society and international observers to observe all phases of the presidential election process without hindrance, in all electoral districts and polling centres, including military barracks and nomadic areas. To achieve this, ANGE will have to further simplify the procedure for obtaining accreditations and avoid any discrimination whatsoever in their allocation", said Mrs Agnès Ildijma Lokiam, President of ATPDH.

"We also call on all candidates to respect the results of the ballot box, to refrain from any form of violence and, if necessary, to use legal channels to challenge the results, as provided for in the code of good conduct to which all candidates have subscribed. With this in mind, we strongly urge the Constitutional Council to demonstrate impartiality in the management of the dispute", declared Adoum Mahamat Boukar, President of the LTDH.

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