With Recent Coups Behind Them, Chad Focuses On Elections

 Not ideal, but still progress:

Chad deployed dozens of security forces in the capital amid rising tensions on Monday as polls closed and vote counting began in the first presidential election in Africa's Sahel region since a wave of coups.

Soldiers and riot police patrolled the streets alongside at least 30 armoured and other military vehicles in the opposition-friendly southern neighbourhoods of the capital N'Djamena, according to Reuters reporters.

The streets, normally bustling in the final hours of voting, were quiet.

At least one voter was killed in the Central African country's second-largest city Moundou, south N'Djamena, after unidentified gunmen opened fire at a polling station, Chadian media reported.

Nomads, who make up around 7% of Chad's population, were meant to begin early voting on Sunday. But by Monday afternoon, they were still unable to vote due to logistical problems, leaving many frustrated, according to the Reuters reporters.

"No one brought us a polling station or people to tell us where to vote," one said.

Analysts say President Mahamat Idriss Deby, who took over the day rebels killed his long-ruling father, Idriss Deby, in April 2021, is most likely to win, although his chief opponent drew larger-than-expected crowds on the campaign trail.

Monday's election pitted Deby against his prime minister Succes Masra, previously a political opponent who fled into exile in 2022 but was allowed back a year later. Also running were former prime minister Albert Pahimi Padacke and seven other candidates.