Voting in Chad has begun following a tense first Sahel presidential election since coups

As polls closed and vote counting got underway for the first presidential election in Africa’s Sahel region since a spate of coups, Chad mobilized dozens of security forces in the capital amid escalating tensions on Monday.

In the opposition-friendly southern areas of the capital N’Djamena, at least thirty armored and other military vehicles were parked beside soldiers and riot police, Reuters reporters reported.

Normally lively during the last few hours of voting, the streets were empty.
According to Chadian media, unknown gunmen opened fire at a voting place in Moundou, south of N’Djamena, the second-largest city in Central Africa, killing at least one voter.

Approximately 7% of Chad’s population are nomadic, and they were scheduled to start early voting on Sunday. But by Monday afternoon, many of them remained dissatisfied because of logistical issues that prevented them from casting ballots, as reported by the Reuters reporters.

“No one brought us a polling station or people to tell us where to vote,” someone claimed.

Though his main opponent garnered larger-than-expected numbers on the campaign trail, analysts think President Mahamat Idriss Deby, who took over on the day rebels assassinated his long-ruling father, Idriss Deby, in April 2021, is the most likely to win.

The prime minister Succes Masra, who was Deby’s prior political rival and who went into exile in 2022 before being granted permission to return a year later, faced out against him in Monday’s election. Seven other candidates, including former prime minister Albert Pahimi Padacke, were also in the race.

Despite coming from the same clan as Deby, opposition leader Yaya Dillo was expected to challenge him in the election. On February 28, the day of the announcement of the poll date, Dillo was shot and killed in N’Djamena.
A boycott had been demanded by a few opposition figures and civil society organizations due to suspicions of vote-rigging.

This has sparked worries about possible bloodshed.