Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Right now I'm at the rally for Soukzay Mazra. He's just arriving here just outside the hippodrome of the capital city in Jemena.
00:08And as you can hear behind me and see as well, crowds are going pretty mad.
00:12They're very excited to see their candidate arrive here for his final rally.
00:18Now Soukzay Mazra has a very interesting story.
00:21He's currently the Prime Minister of right now you can see, you can see Soukzay Mazra arriving.
00:27And that is his group of cars driving through the crowds, arriving here, greeting supporters for one last time
00:35before they go to the polling stations on Monday to vote for him.
00:39Now he's an interesting story. He's currently the Prime Minister of Chad.
00:43But only a few months ago he was actually in exile.
00:47Some of his supporters back in 2022 demonstrated in the streets.
00:52There was a violent crackdown, some were killed, and Soukzay Mazra went into exile in the US.
00:57He's since come back to Chad, signed a deal with the current interim president, and he's currently his Prime Minister.
01:03But he's running in this presidential election.
01:06Now some critics say that he switched sides, that he turned his coat, that he sold out by accepting that job as Prime Minister.
01:14He, though, has been telling his supporters, and we expect him to do so one last time here today,
01:19that politicians in Chad need to reconcile, they need to work together.
01:23So he, as Prime Minister, accepted that position with the interim president, one of his political rivals,
01:28because Chad needs its politicians to work together in order to move forward.
01:33He's been telling Chadians, give me five more years, give me five years by electing me as president,
01:39and I will, in his words, bring Chad out of obscurity.
01:44Of course, on the other side, though, we have his main rival, the current interim president, Mohamed Idris Debbie Itno.
01:50He's also holding a big rally here in the capital city on the main plaza,
01:55and we were at that rally a little earlier today, and we expect to go there later, too.
01:59And Claire, Chad is trying to emerge from a transitional period.
02:03Can you tell us a bit more about the context of this election?
02:09Chad is coming out of this three-year transitional period.
02:12Now, what happened three years ago is that the late President Idris Debbie,
02:16who had been in power for more than 30 years, he was killed while he was visiting troops in the north of the country.
02:22He was on the battlefield, and he was killed visiting troops there.
02:25Now, the army basically installed his son, Mohamed Idris Debbie Itno, or Midi,
02:31as he's known here as an acronym for his initials.
02:34He is very much the interim president at the moment,
02:38but he is now trying to legitimise himself and be elected as president of Chad.
02:44So, he's the big rival, really.
02:46We have three main, there were ten candidates in this election, but three really in the favourites.
02:51We have the current interim president, Midi.
02:53We have Soukzay Mazraoui, who's holding his rally here,
02:56and then we have Alba Parmi Barakeh, who is the opposition candidate,
03:00who has been saying since the beginning, criticising the electoral process,
03:04saying that it is weighted in favour of the current interim president.
03:09Of course, the current interim president, Midi, he denies that accusation.