Three of the ten presidential candidates in Chad on April 11, who officially withdrew from the electoral process, but were held in the course of the country’s highest court, have their names and photos in place on the by-elections handed out to the party. Opponent Saleh Kebzabo, one of these “candidates in spite of himself”, as they are called, has launched a bizarre campaign in Mayo-Kebbi East (southwest of the country), where he comes from. Spending several days requires a boycott of the vote.
For four days, Saleh Kebzabo was in the depths of the Mayo-Kebbi East region, going from village to village to speak “in the deep country,” he said. The goal is to explain to the Chadians – who do not listen to the radio and do not have access to social networks – its slogan of boycotting the presidential election on 11 April.
“Our name is on the ballot. We are therefore obliged to go down to earth, not to lead a campaign so that people vote for us because we are not candidates, but to explain the confiscation by the Supreme Court by saying that we are not candidates. People understand that. We explain why we are not candidates in an election that is a false election and we therefore do not ask them to simply go and vote. It is a boycott campaign that I am leading and I think it is going well, Saleh Kebzabo emphasizes.
The president of Ceni demands that public order not be disturbed
Response from the President of the National Electoral Commission of Chad: Kodi Mahamat Bam believes that “everyone has the right to campaign as they wish”, but not under any circumstances.
“We are in a democracy and everyone can say what he thinks, in a campaign, provided he does not disturb public order. If he introduces words that can disrupt public order, we have security. This is not Ceni’s responsibility, he explains.
But the real test will be towards the end of this week, according to opponent Kebzabo. He plans to organize a large meeting in Ndjamena where he will demand an active boycott of the presidential election.
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