Chad’s transitional president Mahamat Idriss Déby, who took power in 2021 after the death of his long-ruling father, on Saturday confirmed his candidacy for a long-awaited May 6 presidential vote.
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“I, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, am a candidate for the 2024 presidential election under the banner of the ‘For a United Chad coalition’,” he said in a speech.
Déby took power after the death of his father, veteran leader Idriss Déby Itno, in 2021 while fighting rebels.
He was sworn in as the country’s transitional president the next year and promised a return to civilian rule and elections but extended the transition by two years.
The announcement of Déby’s candidacy comes just days after his leading opponent was killed in an army operation in the capital N’Djamena.
Yaya Dillo Djerou, a cousin of the transitional president, died on Wednesday after troops surrounded the office of his Socialist Party Without Borders.
His party accused soldiers of killing Dillo at point-blank range in an “execution” ahead of the May 6 vote, in which he planned to run.
The government has rejected the accusations, saying Dillo “opposed his arrest” and fired on security forces.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
This story originally appeared on France24
