Polls have closed in Chad’s first parliamentary election in 13 years, which the government has presented as a key step towards ending a military rule. Provisional results are expected by January 15 and final results by January 31 in the large, mainly desert Central African nation of 18 million people.
Voters will choose a new parliament, provincial assemblies and local councils in one of the world’s poorest countries, with the opposition boycotting the vote, citing fears of vote rigging.
Turnout was low in the capital N’Djamena when polling stations opened on Sunday. Election officials in the upmarket district where the president’s family and ruling dignitaries live put voter apathy down to the “cold weather”.
Opposition parties have urged Chad’s eight million voters to shun elections whose results they said had been decided in advance.
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