Chamber:
	Assemblée nationale
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	21 April 2002
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats of the National Assembly. According to the Constitution, the elections were due in April-May 2001, but they were postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI).
Background and outcome of elections:
	More than 4 millions voters were called to the polls on 21 April 2002 to elect all 155 members of Parliament. The terms of office of the outgoing MPs were prolonged by one year to enable the Independent National Election Commission to organise the elections properly. Before that date, President Idriss Deby had held talks with opposition parties on arrangements for the parliamentary elections. The talks also covered discussions with rebels and measures to improve security in the country. It was agreed that arrangements would be made to ensure that politicians contesting the elections could move around freely to campaign. The main themes during the electoral campaign were security, employment and the country's poor infrastructure. Despite some inconvenience to voters caused by the computerisation of voting lists, voting went peacefully by and large. Even though turnout was low for voters in some urban centres, particularly N'Djamena (21.83 per cent), it should be noted that turnout in rural areas was quite high, bringing the overall figure up to 52.76 per cent. Nearly 40 parties fielded 427 candidates, including 35 women. President Deby's ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party was already assured of winning 45 unopposed seats in the north, and his allies were sole candidates in another 20 of the 155 parliamentary constituencies. During the weekend of the elections, the president of the opposition African Democratic Party, Mr. Gueti Mahamat, was killed in a landmine blast as he was travelling in his car in northern Chad. Officials called the blast a terrorist attack and observers said the accusations were aimed at the rebel Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad. The government and the rebels had signed a peace agreement in January 2002 which ended three years of guerrilla warfare that had taken thousands of lives. The results gave the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement an overwhelming victory as it took 112 of the 155 seats. The opposition Rally for Democracy and Progress took ten seats, followed by the opposition Federation for Action for the Republic, which took nine. Four other opposition parties took the remaining 24 seats. The newly elected Parliament held its first sitting on 10 June 2002 and elected Mr Nassour Nguelengdouksia (MPS) as its Speaker.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (21 April 2002): Elections results
Number of registered electors	4 171 169
Voters	2 185 646 (52.40 %)

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS)	113
Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP)	10
Front of Action Forces for the Republic (FAR)	10
National Rally for Development and Progress (RNDP)	5
National Union for Democracy and Renewal (UNDR)	5
Union for Renewal and Democracy (URD)	3
Action for Unity and Socialism (ACTUS)	1
Action for the Renewal in Chad (ART)	1
People's Movement for Democracy in Chad (MPDT)	1
Federal and Democratic NationalConvention (CDF)	1
Social and Democratic Natinal Convention (CNDS)	1
Rally for the Republic - Lingui (RPR-LINGUI)	1
National Rally for Democracy in Chad - le Réveil	1
National Union	1
Rally of Democratic Forces	1

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	146
Women:	9
Percent of women:	5.81