Chad votes for president after three years of military rule

FRANCE 24

6 May 2024 at 2:54 am·1-min read

Chadians voted Monday in a presidential election aimed at ending three years of military rule but dismissed by opponents of junta leader Mahamat Idriss Déby as a fix. The vote marked the first presidential election in Africa's Sahel region since a wave of coups.

Mahamat Idriss Déby has been serving as transitional president since taking power after his father Idriss Déby, who ruled Chad for 30 years, was killed in battle in April 2021.

Déby has promised to bolster security, strengthen the rule of law and increase electricity production. But his chief opponent has been drawing larger-than-expected crowds on the campaign trail.

The vote coincides with a temporary withdrawal of US troops from Chad, an important Western ally in a region of West and Central Africa courted by Russia and wracked by jihadism.

Voter shot dead in ‘isolated incident’

While turnout seemed slow shortly after polls opened in the capital N'Djamena, it had picked up by mid-morning, according to reporters.

A man was shot dead Monday after voting by an attacker who did not have an electoral card and had been barred from voting, said electoral officials.

The unknown gunman opened fire indiscriminately, hitting a 65-year-old who had just cast his ballot in Moundou, said Ousmane Houzibe, head of the ANGE electoral body in the southern city.

The shooter was among a group of people demanding the right to vote in the election.

"The process must be conducted with transparency to avoid any risk of confrontation."

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Voter shot dead in ‘isolated incident’

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