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Chad’s interim parliament took office on Tuesday almost two weeks after its members were appointed by the military junta that emerged after the death of longtime leader Idriss Deby Itno.
The 93-member assembly, called the National Transitional Council (CNT), approved Haroun Kabadi as president by an acclamation vote.
Kabadi, 73, was the speaker of the former National Assembly, which was dissolved after Deby was killed fighting rebels earlier this year and replaced by his son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, 37.
“Our aim is not to systematically oppose the government but to seek ways and means to create stability,” Kabadi said in his acceptance speech.
The main task of Parliament is “to organize free and transparent elections in order to lay the institutional foundations for a post-transition Chad”, he declared.
A former French colony in the heart of the arid Sahel, Chad has a long history of volatility, authoritarianism and endemic poverty.
None of the CNT ranks include a member of the opposition alliance Wakit Tama, which is campaigning for a return to civilian rule.
The deputies were appointed on September 24, with numbers distributed according to a quota system – at least 30 percent of the old National Assembly, 30 percent of women and 30 percent of young people.
General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, center, led a 15-member junta after his father died fighting rebels in northern Chad. By Djimet WICHE (AFP) After taking power, the junta, made up of young Deby and 14 other generals, sacked the government, dissolved parliament and repealed the constitution.
He promised to hold “free and fair” elections within 18 months, renewable once.
He also pledged to quickly appoint an interim parliament that would adopt a revamped constitution drawn up through “inclusive national dialogue.”
Delay in doubt
But doubts about meeting the schedule keep growing.
It took the regime five months to appoint the interim parliament, and there has been no sign of movement on “national dialogue.”
Chad. By (AFP) There has also been no visible progress on another junta initiative – overtures to rebel groups based in Sudan and Libya that have been a headache for Chadian leaders for decades.
“The delay in setting up the CNT will have an impact on the announced schedule. It will be impossible to meet the 18-month deadline,” said Chadian political scientist Ousmane Houzibe.
“The CNT is an echo chamber – there will be no change,” said Yaya Dillo, a veteran socialist activist.
“It will not be different from the old National Assembly, and it distorts the long-awaited dialogue,” said Max Loalngar, spokesperson for Wakit Tama and head of the Chadian League for Human Rights.
Young Deby himself said in June that he was not ruling out an extension of military rule if the conditions for reestablishment of civilian rule were not met.
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