Elections in Chad

Chad's electoral framework is based on the 2023 Constitution, the Electoral Code (Loi N°005/CNT/2024 of 22 February 2024) and the organic law governing the permanent electoral and referendum authority known as ANGE (Loi organique N°002/CNT/2024 of 26 January 2024). An amendment promulgated on 8 October 2025 sets the presidential mandate at seven years and does not set a term limit. Parliamentary mandates last six years, and Parliament has two chambers. ANGE manages voter registration, the national electoral file, electoral lists, polling-station mapping and election organization. The Conseil constitutionnel reviews presidential candidacies, presidential results and disputes concerning legislative elections. The Cour suprême gives the definitive results for provincial and communal elections. The National Human Rights Commission, known as CNDH, monitors human rights during elections. Political parties and civil-society organizations can deploy delegates and observers. A voter must be a Chadian citizen, be at least 18 years old, retain civic and political rights, appear on an electoral list and not be subject to a legal disqualification. International election datasets classify voting as compulsory, but current sanctions for non-voting are not reliably documented. No voter fee is established in the available rules. The December 2024 process recorded 8,202,207 registered voters and 26,536 polling stations across 23 provinces. ANGE provides the relevant registration and polling-station process, but the 2024-25 election dates do not establish a 2026 calendar. Current dates and registration arrangements should therefore be checked with ANGE. The president is elected directly through a two-round majority system. The 6 May 2024 presidential election was decided in the first round; ANGE announced provisional results on 9 May and the Conseil constitutionnel issued final results on 16 May, giving Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 61 percent. The National Assembly has 188 directly elected seats, with 83 chosen through plurality voting and 105 through proportional voting. The 69-seat Senate combines 46 members elected indirectly by a college of municipal and provincial councillors with 23 members appointed by the president. Provincial and communal councils are elected directly. Presidential candidates must be at least 35, be Chadian by birth with Chadian parents, hold no other nationality, retain civic and political rights, meet health and moral-conduct requirements and satisfy residence conditions. The application file includes proof of nationality and birth, residence evidence, a medical certificate issued less than three months earlier, a criminal-record certificate, a policy statement and a 10,000,000 FCFA deposit. An independent presidential candidate must collect at least 24,000 signatures from at least 12 provinces, with 2,000 signatures from each province. Parliamentary candidates must be at least 25. For the 2024 presidential election, applications were filed from 6 to 15 March; 20 files were submitted and 10 candidates were approved. At a regular polling station, voting generally runs from 06:00 to 17:00. The five-member polling bureau consists of a president, vice-president, secretary and two scrutineers. The voter presents identity evidence, is checked against the electoral list, marks the ballot secretly in the voting booth, signs or is recorded in the polling documentation and receives indelible ink. Early voting for defense and security forces and nomadic voters has been observed. Current implementation of out-of-country voting and other special arrangements is not sufficiently documented. Monitoring has found polling stations without displayed lists, names that do not match identity documents, ballots or materials that were missing or incorrect, and voting on loose sheets. In many observed areas, itinerant polling stations for nomadic voters were absent. Proxy or mandate voting was applied inconsistently and sometimes contrary to procedure. Reports also described pressure or influence by security personnel and allegations of multiple voting, although voting was generally calm in the observed areas. Parties, observers and voters can document problems through the applicable electoral and judicial channels. Counting takes place publicly at the polling station, with votes read aloud. The 2024 legislative, provincial and communal election campaign ran from 7 to 27 December after staged publication of candidate lists. Provisional legislative and local results were reported on 11 January 2025. CNDH reported definitive results on 21 January, while an ANGE web calendar listed 3 February, creating a documented date discrepancy. The Cour suprême examined 227 petitions concerning provincial and communal elections, and the specific court record governs an individual dispute. In the National Assembly, the MPS won 124 of 188 seats, while RNDT-Le Réveil won 12, RDP 8 and UNDR 7; 38 parties were represented and 64 seats, or 34 percent, were held by women. The Senate election took place on 25 February 2025: MPS won 43 of the 46 elected seats, RNDT-Le Réveil won 2 and URD won 1, while 23 senators were appointed by the president. Women held 25 of 69 Senate seats, or 36.2 percent. Several opposition parties boycotted the Senate election. CNDH reported participation above 70 percent for the 2024 presidential election. The electoral framework protects the right to vote and stand for election, equal participation, secret voting, party and observer presence and constitutional challenges. CNDH has recommended more neutral administration and security conduct, stronger voter education, polling stations that are easier for people with disabilities to access, better representation of women and young people, and more transparent publication and review of results.