Chad’s military junta head, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, on Friday appointed 93 members of a new interim parliament. The announcement comes five months after he declared himself as the leader of the Transitional Military Council following the death of his father Idriss Dey Itno, reported TRT World.
Idriss Deby, who came to power in 1990, was killed after being injured in fighting with the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), a large armed group with a rear base in Libya. Deby’s death announcement came just a day after he was announced as the winner of the presidential election.
After the death of his father, Mahamat dissolved parliament and promised “free and transparent” elections in 18 months.
“The following people have been designated members of the National Transitional Council,” said the decree signed by Idriss.
The list included 93 names, according to pre-established quotas, 30% of the deputies of the outgoing National Assembly that dissolved when the military council came to power, 30% of women, and 30% of young people.
According to a dossier distributed to the media on Friday, the National Transitional Council (NTC) “will act as a national transitional council” in waiting for the organization of the elections.
Among the names of the appointees are the names of former opposition figures to Chad’s late president Idriss Deby. But the list doesn’t include any name from the opposition platform Wakit Tamma, or from the civil society organizations that denounced the coup by the younger Deby.
Back in May, the junta, headed by 37-year-old Mahamat Deby and made up of 14 other generals, named former Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke, who was runner-up in the April 11 presidential election, as Chad’s interim premier.
Recently, Mahamat Deby refused to rule out prolonging the 18-month transition period if “certain conditions” were not fulfilled.
