Less than two years after the Constitution was adopted by referendum, Chadian deputies and senators voted on Friday for a constitutional revision that establishes a seven-year presidential term, renewable without limit, a measure denounced by the opposition.

In April 2021, Mahamat Déby was proclaimed transitional president by the army, following the death of his father, Idriss Déby Itno, who was killed by rebels on his way to the front after 30 years at the helm of the country. He was elected head of state in May 2024, for a five-year term, in a contested election that was shunned by much of the opposition.

The overwhelming majority of parliamentarians (236 votes for, 0 against out of 257 members) approved this text presented by the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) of President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, while the vote was initially scheduled for October 13.

- "authoritarian" -

"The resolutions of a party have become laws of the Republic, and what's more, a fundamental law. There is no longer any difference between the MPS and the Republic," Max Kemkoye, spokesperson for the opposition platform of the Consultation Group of Political Actors (GCAP), told AFP in an outraged telephone interview.

Only the parliamentarians of the National Rally of Chadian Democrats-Le Réveil (RNDT, opposition) of former Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacké did not take part in the vote and left the room, an AFP journalist noted. In a letter addressed to parliamentarians before the vote, the senator had described this revision as "unconstitutional and authoritarian."

The constitutional reform also provides for the possibility of creating a Deputy Prime Minister position and extends the term of office of MPs by one year, increasing it from five to six years. The text restores ministers' immunity. This provision had been removed in the initial draft.

The text also lifts the incompatibility of the functions of head of state with activities within a political party, while Mahamat Déby had been designated president of the MPS in January 2025.

Even though the term of office of the head of state will not be changed until the next presidential election, Max Kemkoye of the GCAP believes in a post on his Facebook page Friday morning that "this Constitution gives two years as a gift to Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno."

He also denounced "the possibility of no longer holding elections by simply invoking force," as provided for in one of the new articles. The opposition representative had already boycotted the December 2023 referendum and denounced "a second coup d'état by Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno."

- "neither free nor credible" -

In January and February 2025, Chad held legislative elections, the first since 2015, and senatorial elections for the first time in Chad's history, largely won by the MPS.

The main opposition party, Les Transformateurs, had described the electoral process as a "resounding failure" due to a "massive boycott" that the party and other opposition groups had called for, predicting "prefabricated results."

The president of the Transformateurs, Succès Masra, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last August, accused of having provoked a massacre on May 14 in Mandakao, in the Logone-Occidental region (southwest), where 42 people, "mostly women and children," were killed.