Chad holds parliamentary election likely to cement president's grip on power

Chadians were voting on Sunday in a parliamentary election boycotted by the opposition that will likely consolidate President Mahamat Idriss Deby's power and complete the oil-producing nation's transition towards constitutional rule.

Deby was elected in a disputed vote in May, three years after seizing power and declaring himself interim leader when rebels killed his father, President Idriss Deby, on the battlefield.

Opposition leader Succes Masra's Transformateurs party and several other parties boycotted Sunday's legislative election, the country's first in over a decade. They are also boycotting municipal and regional elections also being held on Sunday.

Polls opened for nomads and members of the military on Saturday, and at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Sunday for the general public. More than eight million people are registered to vote.

Provisional results are expected by Jan. 15, 2025, and final results by Jan. 31, 2025, in the large, mainly desert Central African nation.

"This is the first time that I am voting for three candidates at the same time - for the legislative, provincial and municipal elections," said 27-year-old Moussa Ali Hissein.

"I hope that these candidates will keep their promises to young people. I especially need a job."

Abel Moungar, 31, said he hoped to see an improved social and economic situation for Chadians.

"I was afraid that people would boycott the elections but thank God, they came to vote like me," he said.

Last month Chad, a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic militants in the Sahel region, ended its defence cooperation pact with France and threatened to withdraw from a regional multinational security force.

It hosts more than 600,000 refugees who have fled the war in neighbouring Sudan, the United Nations said, in May.