More than a dozen opposition parties in Chad announce their boycott of December legislative elections

MADRID 13 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Fourteen opposition political parties in Chad have announced their boycott of December’s legislative and municipal elections after denouncing clear signs of manipulation by the government led by President Mahamat Idriss Déby.

At a press conference yesterday from N’Djamena, representatives of parties such as Los Democrats or Los Patriotas denounced “the manipulation of the electoral process by those in power” and accused the Government of “restricting civil liberties and maintaining total control over institutions.” .

In a subsequent joint statement collected by the Tchadinfos portal, the parties involved take it for granted that the elections will take place in a “closed circuit”, under a “corrupt and unaudited” electoral registration system.

Furthermore, the signatories denounce that the Government has so far failed to fulfill its promises to facilitate the arrival of international observers or to publish the results of the municipal elections, “which calls into question the integrity of the vote.”

Thus, the signatories “have decided not to support these elections,” in a decision “made reluctantly” given the need to promote political change in the country. “However, as the opposition we cannot give credibility to a vote when it is not,” Mahamat Zène Chérif, president of the Chad Uni party, told Radio France Internationale (RFI).

The parties of the coalition that supported the presidential campaign of Mahamat Idriss Déby have announced that they are already immersed in preparations to appear in the elections and right now all eyes are on The Transformers, the party of former prime minister Succès Masra, defeated by Déby in the presidential elections on May 6.

The formation, in this sense, has not yet openly declared its intention to participate in the elections. Yes, there is a consensus within the party — Masrá, unlike other opponents, has decided to participate in the national political game — but many voices are calling for the postponement of the elections because the country is still recovering from the catastrophic floods of this past summer and that have left more than 600 dead, two million displaced and immense material damage.