Chad enters presidential election campaign
In Chad, the presidential election is scheduled for April 11, 2021. Gael COGNE / AFP
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4 min
This Thursday morning marks the start of the electoral campaign for the presidential election on April 11 in Chad, a campaign that will last 30 days.
On paper, nine candidates are in the running, including the current head of state Idriss Deby Itno, but three of them are “in spite of themselves”.
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See you soon 69, including 30 in power, Idriss Deby Itno will run for a 6th term in a row in a month to the day.
In front of him, nine competitors if we stick to the list made public by the Supreme Court.
But three of them say they are candidates in spite of themselves.
They are Saleh Kebzabo, who came second in the last presidential election, the longtime opponent Ngarlejy Yorongar and Théophile Bongoro, candidate of the Victory Alliance which brings together 13 opposition parties.
All three withdrew from the electoral process after the security forces assault the home of opponent Yaya Dillo Djerou.
But nothing to do, their photos are already on the ballots.
For Saleh Kebzabo, the government has decided to keep these
opposition "
heavyweights
" in the process to "
give credibility to an election without any stake
".
There remain 6 candidates who want to go to coal: the official leader of the opposition Felix Nialbé Roumandoumngar, often accused of being close to the presidential movement, the leader of the Chadian Patriots Movement, Brice Mbaimong Guedmabaye and the former Premier Minister, Albert Pahimi Padacket who had supported Idriss Deby 5 years ago.
Two newcomers are in the race: Balthazar Aladoum Djarma or Théophile Yombombe Madjitoloum.
Finally there is the former minister Lydie Beassemda, already made history to be the first woman to run for the supreme office in Chad.
Personalities mainly from the south.
For researcher Jérôme Tubiana, the absence of candidates from the north testifies to a desire to avoid eroding the electorate favorable to President Idriss Déby.
It is undoubtedly a calculation of power to have rather sought to have opponents from the south face it and to have greatly discouraged opponents from the north.
(…) The vote is quite strongly geographic or even ethnic in Chad and therefore in general, President Déby had more votes in the north.
If there were any candidates from the north, most certainly its base in the north would be eroded.
Jérôme Tubiana, researcher specializing in Chad
Bineta Diagne
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