The Chadian National Elections Agency will present the results of the country’s elections in fifteen days following Monday’s presidential poll. Chadian state mediator, Saleh Kebzabo commented stating that, “When we say we are democrats, we respect the laws of the Republic to the end. We must wait patiently. We won’t have the results tonight, or tomorrow but the National Elections Agency will give them in fifteen days.”
Chad began counting votes on Monday evening across multiple polling stations. The polls come as the end of the transitional period in the country following the 2021 killing of President Idriss Déby at the age of 68 during the clashes with rebels. Ten candidates participated in the elections including Mahamat Idriss Déby, the transitional president of the state. He noted that the elections will mark a return to constitutional rule: “This is the commitment I made before God and the Chadian people, that of organizing on the agreed upon timeline, elections which will mark a return to constitutional rule.”
READ ALSO: Jacob Zuma’s Influence in Modern-Day South Africa
Political Science professor, Evarist Ngarlem Tolde says, “these elections will allow the fate of the country to be determined, the importance of these elections lies in the return of constitutional order, in other words we are talking about the formation of new institutions because so far we have a transitional period and these elections will allow us to elect someone who will determine the fate of Chad in the next five years. This will be a democratically elected president who will complete a nearly three-year transitional period. In my opinion, it was Chad who demanded the withdrawal of American troops and special forces. I think there are seventy-five to eighty of them. So, Chad asked the United States to withdraw its special forces and now the United States has softened its position given the upcoming elections and results. This is the commitment I made before God and the Chadian people, that of organizing in the agreed upon timeline, elections which will mark a return to constitutional rule.”