Highlights: In Chad, we now know the final list of candidates for the presidential election on May 6. The Constitutional Council announced its decision this Sunday March 24. Of the twenty application files submitted, ten were rejected and ten others validated. Most candidates were rejected for non-compliant civil status documents which did not allow the Council to certify that they met the eligibility criteria. The civil society platform Wakit Tama calls for a boycott of the vote which it describes as a “ masquerade”

In Chad, we now know the final list of candidates for the presidential election on May 6. The Constitutional Council announced its decision this Sunday March 24. Of the twenty files…

Presidential election in Chad: ten candidacy files rejected including those of the main opponents

In Chad, we now know the final list of candidates for the presidential election on May 6. The Constitutional Council announced its decision this Sunday March 24. Of the twenty application files submitted, ten were rejected and ten others validated, including those of the transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Déby, the Prime Minister, Succès Masra, and the former Prime Minister, Albert Pahimi Padacké.

The Constitutional Council, chaired by Me Jean-Bernard Padaré, (Center) presented the final list of ten candidates for the Chadian presidential election on May 6, this Sunday March 24, 2024. © Carol Valade/RFI

By: RFI Follow

With our correspondent in Ndjamena,

Carol Valade

The announcement left some disappointed. In a packed room, in front of a good part of the government and the National Transitional Council, ten candidates saw their files rejected by the Constitutional Council chaired by Maître Jean-Bernard Padaré.

Most candidates were rejected for non-compliant civil status documents which did not allow the Council to certify that they met the eligibility criteria.

These include extracts from incomplete birth certificates. One case in particular caught the attention of the Council, that of Nassour Ibrahim Koursami, the candidate of the Consultation Group of Political Actors (Gcap), a particularly virulent opposition platform.

His documents list several different places of birth. He also reportedly holds three nationalities, namely Chadian, Sudanese and British.

The Council therefore orders the submission of all the documents in its file to the public prosecutor's office, with a view to opening a preliminary investigation for “

forgery and use of forgery

”.

Lack of civil status also for Ahmat Hassaballah Soubiane, historical political figure, founding member of the MPS. Having entered into dissidence, several times a rebel and several times a minister, he was unable to produce his release which is nevertheless required for a soldier.

Call to boycott the vote

Before the publication of the list of candidates for the presidential election on May 6, the civil society platform Wakit Tama [“It is time”, in Chadian Arabic] calls for a boycott of the vote which it describes as a “

masquerade

”. . The announcement was made during a press conference on Sunday morning.

Only six weeks left before the presidential election in Chad, a vote that the Wakit Tama organization considers “

won in advance

” by the transitional president Mahamat Idriss Déby.

Soumaine Adoum, spokesperson for the platform, calls for a boycott of the election: “

If you boycott, he will be elected, if you do not boycott, he will be elected. So does the boycott matter

? Yes, because refusing to vote is a point of view, because legitimacy will now begin to be undermined.

Younous Mahadjir, vice-president of the Union of Trade Unions of Chad (UST), criticizes the twenty candidates who submitted their applications for the presidential election: “

All the candidates know very well that they are not going to win. It's just comedy. But if they leave, it's because they have interests somewhere. It’s not about running for office and winning. And they know that well. So really, it's an insult to the people.

For their part, some candidates retort that it is necessary to participate, to be able to contest the results or to denounce possible fraud from within, while others confide, off the microphone, that the strategy of boycott, on in the long term, would quite simply sign the end of their political party.

Presidential election in Chad: ten candidacy files rejected including those of the main opponents

Presidential election in Chad: ten candidacy files rejected including those of the main opponents

Call to boycott the vote

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