Chad went to the polls yesterday in the first round of its presidential election with incumbent Idriss Deby Itno virtually assured of extending his 21-year rule after his main rivals boycotted the vote.
Chad went to the polls yesterday in the first round of its
presidential election with incumbent Idriss Deby Itno virtually assured
of extending his 21-year rule after his main rivals boycotted the vote.
Deby,
in power since ousting dictator Hissene Habre in a 1990 coup, is
seeking a fourth term as president of one of the world's poorest
countries, albeit with growing oil exports and abundant resources of
uranium and gold.
Key opposition leaders have withdrawn from the
vote after claiming that his Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party
stole February parliamentary elections and the start of yesterday's
vote was marred by hitches.
Deby called on nationals to "fulfil their civic duty" as he turned out to vote in the 11th district of the capital.
"I would like to ask all Chadians to come out in force to fulfil their civic duty," he said.
The vote began after delays in some areas because of the late arrival of voting materials and staff, witnesses said.
In
Djambalpar, part of the third district of Ndjamena, a 19-year-old
student, Abdelaziz Djikouana, said: "I expect a good result for the
president so he is re-elected."
Other voters were hoping for
change however. In the sixth district, unemployed Salomon Laoutaye, 32,
said: "Change is all I want, peace and security."
He added: "I don't agree with the boycott, you can't continue to boycott if you want change to happen."
Opposition
leaders Saleh Kebzabo, Wadal Abdelkader Kamougue and Ngarlejy Yorongar
say they will not recognise the poll amid demands for reforms including
the issuing of new voters' cards.
They claim that unfair
conditions caused the MPS to crush them in the February parliamentary
poll and are predicting the new poll will be an "historic fraud".
Meanwhile Deby has said he is certain of re-election and that the poll would be "credible".
The
real reason for his former challengers' boycott was that "they realise
they will be beaten", the president told a press conference on Friday.
In
the February polls, the first contested by the opposition since 2002,
the MPS won an absolute majority with 113 of the 188 seats in
parliament against a fragmented and underfunded opposition of more than
100 parties.
Deby became Chad's first president to be elected by
universal suffrage in 1996. He was elected to a third mandate in 2006,
following a modification of the constitution, at elections boycotted by
the opposition.
