Parliamentary elections were held in

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

on 5 January 1997, with a second round on 23 February. They were the first multi-party elections since independence in 1960 and resulted in a victory for the ruling

Patriotic Salvation Movement The Patriotic Salvation Movement ( ar, الحركة الوطنية للإنقاذ, french: Mouvement patriotique du salut, MPS) is the ruling political party in Chad. History After Idriss Déby, an army commander who participated in an unsu ...

(MPS), which won 65 of the 124 seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

. However, the elections were marred by

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

widespread vote rigging, and local irregularities marred these elections, as the 1996 presidential elections. Voter turnout was 45.6% in the first round and 45.3% in the second.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'' p233

Electoral system

The elections were held using the

two round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

. Candidates had to win a majority of the vote in the first round to be elected. In constituencies where no candidate received a majority, a second round was held.

Campaign

A total of 30 parties contested the elections, putting forward 656 candidates.Elections held in 1997
IPU

Results

Aftermath

The newly elected National Assembly was opened on 4 April. A government was formed with

Nassour Guelendouksia Ouaido Nassour Guelendouksia Ouaido (born 1947) is a Chadian politician who was Prime Minister of Chad from 1997 to 1999 and was President of the National Assembly of Chad from 2002 to 2011. He was Secretary-General of the Economic Community of Central ...

as Prime Minister on 21 May.

References

{{Chadian elections Parliamentary elections in Chad

Parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...