Head of Chad’s military government announces candidacy for May election
The head of Chad’s military government Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno will contest in the country’s presidential election scheduled for May.
“I, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, am a candidate for the 2024 presidential election under the banner of the For a United Chad coalition,” Deby Itno said in a speech on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Chad’s electoral commission announced that the election will take place on May 6, several months earlier than planned.
The election will mark an end of three years of military rule and a return to constitutional order. The vote will also signal the end of Deby Itno’s tenure as the head of Chad’s Transitional Military Council.
37-year-old Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno became the leader of the Central African nation after his father and long-time leader, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed while fighting northern rebels in April 2021.
Upon succeeding his father, Deby Itno vowed to lead an 18-month transitional council that would hold elections and ensure a return to civilian rule. However, in October 2022, Deby Itno dissolved the transitional council and declared himself interim president.
(Story compiled with assistance from wire reports)
