National Dialogue in Chad: Mahamat Déby and his team could run in future elections

If these resolutions are adopted, any Chadian, including the military in charge of the transition, will be allowed to run in future elections.

Chad’s inclusive and sovereign national dialogue, which took place on August 20, is nearing its end. Two days before its closure on Wednesday, September 28, the ad hoc commission charged with defining the form of the new Chadian state and institutions after the transition proposed the adoption of the following measures: extending the transition for a maximum of two years and keeping Mahamat Déby Itno in office, who becomes the transitional president with expanded powers. Above all, the commission proposed that any Chadian and even the leaders of the transition should be eligible for election. The 19 members of the commission also suggested a presidential term of six years, renewable once, with no possibility of revision, not even by referendum.

Moreover, the commission admits that what opposes the approximately 17 million Chadians today is the form of the state. While some argue for a unitary state with territorial authorities, others prefer a federal state where territorial entities have broad autonomy. Faced with this dilemma, the commission proposes two referendums that will allow Chadians to decide their fate. One on the revision of the 1996 Constitution, and a second where everyone will choose between a unitary state and a federal state.

The dialogue that opened on August 20 was boycotted by the country’s two most powerful rebel groups, the main political opposition group and the Catholic Church. Thus, in the absence of these key figures, the possibility that these proposals of the commission will be adopted as the conclusions of the national dialogue is very high.

However, Mahamat Déby Itno had promised Chadians that he would not run for the presidency. After the death of his father in April 2021, the army proclaimed Mahamat Déby Itno, president of the transition, at the head of 15 generals. He immediately abrogated the Constitution, dissolved Parliament, dismissed the government and promised to return power to civilians through “free and democratic” elections after a “transition” of 18 months renewable once.

A few months later, in June 2021, the president of the transitional military council appeared to violate his commitment to the Chadian people by envisaging 36 months of transition “if the Chadians do not reach an agreement. He had also said to hand over to “God” his “fate” on a probable presidential candidacy.