A constitutional referendum was held in

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

on 31 March 1996 to approve or reject the new constitutional draft meant to definitively replace the Transitional Charter established by the Sovereign National Conference in 1993. It was approved by 63% of voters with a 61% turnout.

Background

President

Idriss Déby Idriss Déby Itno ( '; 18 June 1952 – 20 April 2021) was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the sixth List of heads of state of Chad, president of Chad from 1991 until his death in 2021 during the 2021 Northern Chad offensive, No ...

had promised since his rise to power in 1990 to introduce multiparty democracy. Despite these promises, Déby slowed the process in an attempt to maintain full control over the transition. This worried

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, Chad's former colonial power, as it noted that by 1995 only Chad had yet to hold multi-party elections. With the French putting pressure on Déby, on 6 January 1996 he was forced into round table talks with the 15 armed groups and 58 opposition parties in

Franceville Franceville is one of the four largest cities in Gabon, with a population of 110,568 at the 2013 census. It lies on the Mpassa River and at the end of the Trans-Gabon Railway and the N3 road. It grew from a village named Masuku. Overview P ...

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.Richard Cornwell
"Africa Watch Chad: Fuelling the flames"
, African Security Review, Vol. 8, No. 5, 1999Rapport de la Mission Exploratoire en vue des Elections Presidentielles des 2 et 23 Juin 1996
democratie.francophonie.org The conference was a failure, as it soon foundered on procedural points and questions of representation, and, at a deeper level, due to the deep mistrust between northern and southern Chadians. Déby used it to divide the opposition, allying himself with groups willing to put an end to armed confrontation with the government. On 6 March Déby used a presidential decree to announce that the referendum would take place on 31 March. Despite a certain degree of administrative confusion, the referendum was carried out successfully with the assistance of the French garrison present in the country.

Conduct

In its report on the

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, the Agency for Cultural and Technical Co-operation of the

Francophonie The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

criticised the referendum's conduct. The criticism centered on four points, concerning the inadequacy of the personnel in charge of polling stations and the local electoral commissions, the absence of neutrality in the recruitment of election personnel, scarce respect for the electoral code during vote counting and the uneven distribution of the referendum material. During the referendum campaign the local authorities arrested the leader of the Chadian League of the Rights of Man (LTDH) in Bongor, after he had asked a village headman to follow the indications of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), which prohibited campaigning on voting day.

Results

On 8 April CENI published provisional results of the referendum, which saw a victory for the "yes" camp with 61.46% of the vote. The "no" camp took 38.54% of the vote, obtaining a clear majority in four of the 18 prefectures, all in southern Chad. The results were revised by the N'Djamena Court of Appeals, which had temporarily replaced the Constitutional Council and the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

as the highest jurisdiction in Chad, as the latter were to be instituted. The court rejected a number of ballots for technical reasons, raising the "yes" percentage to 63.5%, The result was officially validated and made public on 13 April. The Court also immediately proceeded to proclaim the draft constitution as the new supreme law of the State, and the following day, President Idriss Déby promulgated the new constitution.

References

{{Chadian elections

Constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

Referendums in Chad

Constitutional referendums