In Chad, a constitutional referendum after two and a half years of military rule

2023-12-17 07:52:32

Chadians vote on Sunday in a referendum for or against a new constitution. This is supposed to prepare the ground for elections and a return of civilians to power. A vote that a significant part of the opposition and civil society has called for to boycott.

Published on : 17/12/2023 – 08:52Modified : 17/12/2023 – 09:49

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It is by referendum that Chadians vote on Sunday, December 17 for or against a new Constitution supposed to pave the way for elections and a return of civilians to power, promised two and a half years ago by the military junta but postponed until the end. 2024.

A significant part of the opposition and civil society – which calls for a boycott -, however, considers this election as a plebiscite intended to prepare the election of the current transitional president, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, and perpetuate a “dynasty” inaugurated by his late father 33 years ago already following a coup d’état.

The “yes” seems the favorite: the military power led a big-money campaign which crushed that of the “no” or boycott. He also secured the support of one of his main opponents until then, Succès Masra, who called for a “yes” vote, in the face of a divided and violently repressed opposition for more than a year.

The polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (6 a.m. GMT), noted AFP journalists, and must close at 5 p.m. (4 p.m. GMT). The provisional official results are expected on December 24, the Supreme Court will have to validate them on the 28th.

In a polling station in N’Djamena, not far from the presidential palace, a shy queue of voters formed behind President Déby, who had come to take part in the vote. “Each ballot placed in the ballot box is a further step towards stability and prosperity for our country” declared the Chadian president, first to slip his ballot into the ballot box.

In N’Djamena, posters cover the walls for “yes” to a Constitution with a view to a “unitary and decentralized state” which does not really differ from that which the military repealed in 2021, consecrating a regime where the leader of the State concentrates most of the power.

A fringe of the opposition, supporting the no side, advocates federalism. The unitary state is the only way to preserve unity, federalism would promote “separatism” and “chaos”, retorts the “yes” camp.

Perpetuate the “Déby dynasty”

The two main platforms of parties and civil society organizations hostile to the junta have called for a boycott, hoping that low participation will delegitimize a general they accuse of perpetuating the “Deby dynasty”.

This referendum, “it is to plebiscite (…) the authorities, it aims to purely and simply legitimize the dynasty that they would like to impose on us”, assures AFP Max Loalngar, coordinator of one of them , Wakit Tamma, on the phone from a country of exile that he refuses to name.

At 37, Mahamat Déby was proclaimed by the army on April 20, 2021 transitional president at the head of a junta of 15 generals, following the death of his father Idriss Déby Itno, killed by rebels on his way to the front. . He had ruled this Central African state, the second least developed country in the world according to the UN, with an iron fist for more than 30 years.

The young general immediately promised elections after an 18-month transition and made a commitment to the African Union not to run. Eighteen months later, his regime extended the transition by two years and authorized him to be a candidate in the presidential election scheduled for the end of 2024.

“Permanent government”

On the anniversary of the 18 months of transition, October 20, 2022, between one hundred and more than 300 young men and adolescents were shot and killed in N’Djamena by police and soldiers, according to the opposition and national and international NGOs. . They were peacefully demonstrating against the two-year extension.

More than a thousand were imprisoned before being pardoned, but dozens were tortured or disappeared, according to NGOs and the opposition.

Since this “Black Thursday”, demonstrations have been systematically banned and many opposition leaders, hunted down, have fled Chad.

“For there to be any legitimacy, opposition parties and their activists must feel free to meet and campaign. Otherwise, the referendum risks being seen as a means of transforming the government transition into a permanent government”, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) worried in October.

With AFP