N’DJAMENA: Chad’s junta leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said on Saturday he would stand in the May 6 presidential election, just three days after his chief rival was killed in murky circumstances.

Deby Itno took power in 2021 after his father, veteran leader Idriss Deby Itno, died while fighting rebels. The iron-fisted ruler had led the Sahel country for more than three decades.

“I, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, am a candidate for the 2024 presidential election under the banner of the For a United Chad coalition,” the military leader said in a speech.

Deby Itno was proclaimed transitional president by the junta in 2021 and promised a return to civilian rule and elections within 18 months.

But he subsequently extended the transition by two years and protests against the decision were brutally repressed by the security forces in October 2022. The date of the May presidential election was announced on Tuesday, barely two months before the vote.

Deby Itno, 39, is almost certain to win, given that his main challenger has been assassinated and the opposition has been muzzled and repressed.

He has “no opponents who can pose a threat in the race for the presidency”, Enrica Picco, project director for Central Africa at Crisis Group, said.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2024