Opposition parties urge Chadians to boycott the vote, calling it a sham aimed at entrenching the governing party’s power.
Voting has begun in general elections in Chad, which President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has portrayed as a key step in a transition to democracy but are being boycotted by the country’s opposition parties.
Members of the armed forces and nomadic tribes in Chad were summoned to vote on Saturday for logistical reasons.
But most people in the African nation of about 20 million people will vote on Sunday to select a national parliament, regional assemblies and local councils. The polls will be open from 6am to 5pm local time (05:00 to 16:00 GMT).
Reporting from the capital N’Djamena on Saturday afternoon, Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi said many Chadians described feeling “indifferent” in the lead-up to the vote.
“They say they don’t expect to see any changes. They say that they believe that the ruling party is going to win no matter what,” she said.
“A lot of them are just talking about … bread-and-butter issues: They say the cost of living is extremely high. They’re talking about corruption and nepotism that is rife.”
The country’s opposition parties have called on people to boycott the vote, which they described as a sham.
“No campaign, no vote on December 29. Stay at home and ask others to do the same,” the main opposition Transformers party said in a post on Facebook.
Still, about 45 percent of the country’s 200,000 nomadic tribespeople and 45,000 soldiers had cast their ballots by midday on Saturday, according to initial estimates.
Military personnel began arriving early at a polling station in the Koundoul barracks near N’Djamena, the AFP news agency reported.
“Voting is proceeding normally. The military are voting freely,” senior election management official Ousmane Houzibe said.
‘Serious concern’
The elections are taking place against a backdrop of recurring attacks by rebel group Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region.
Chad also recently ended a military accord with its former colonial power, France, and the country has faced accusations that it is interfering in the conflict ravaging neighbouring Sudan.
President Deby’s government has presented the weekend elections as a key stage in the transition to democratic rule.
The 40-year-old leader took power in 2021 after the death of his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades.
Analyst Mamadou Bodian said while the elections marked a “significant milestone”, bringing to a close a three-year transition period, they are nonetheless highly contested and seen as favouring the governing Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party.
“Even the electoral management body is seen as dominated by individuals loyal to the ruling party,” Bodian told Al Jazeera. “And this raises serious concern not only about the process, but also the independence of the whole electoral system.”
A lack of international observers and an “opaque” voting-counting process also exacerbate a longstanding distrust in Chadian elections, Bodian said.
The opposition boycott “reflects a widespread belief that these elections are neither free nor fair”, he added. “And this also casts doubt on Chad’s democratic prospects.”
Deby won a five-year presidential mandate in May after a vote that the opposition denounced as fraudulent. The last legislative elections date back to 2011.
