Chadians voted Monday in an election aimed at ending three years of military rule but dismissed by opponents of junta leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno as a fix following violent repression.Surrounded by armed presidential guards, Deby was inaccessible to reporters but after voting declared his “commitment” to a “return to the constitutional order”, his Facebook page said.The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has warned that the election appears “neither credible, free nor democratic”.More than 8.2 million people are registered to vote in the largely desert central African country, ranked by the United Nations as the fourth least-developed country in the world.
With a third of inhabitants aged between 10 and 24, many are voting for the first time.
For 26-year-old literature student Idriss Amidou in N’Djamena, Deby “is the only candidate who offers any hope” and the ruling family “knows how to run the country”.
But Eric Bendiguim, 25, a law student at N’Djamena University, said his first-ever vote would go to Masra.
“MIDI has already failed,” he said.
“We don’t have roads. We don’t have electricity. We don’t have good schools. We don’t have enough to eat.”
Voting is due to end at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT), with results expected on May 21 and a possible second round on June 22.
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