Constitution of Chad

The Constitution of the Republic of Chad (French: Constitution de la République du Tchad) is the supreme law of Chad. Chad's seventh constitution, it was adopted in 1996, six years after President Idriss Déby rose to power following a successful rebellion against President Hissène Habré, this formal document establishes the framework of the Chadian state and government and enumerates the rights and freedoms of its citizens. In its current form, the contents of the Constitution include a preamble, 16 parts and 225 articles.

The Constitution, originally composed of 239 articles and 15 parts, has been amended in 2005 for the first time since 1996. In the amendments approved by the Chadian populace amid fraud allegations, the term limits for the presidency were eliminated, an amendment deeply resented by the opposition and parts of the establishment.

Before the current constitution was approved in 1996, Chad had already been subjected between 1959 and 1990 to eight constitutions. The first constitution was approved on March 31, 1959, when the country was still a French colony. The constitution originated a parliamentary system, with executive powers exercised for a five-years' term by a Prime Minister, subject to the confirmation of the National Assembly. This constitution was early replaced on November 28, 1960, when the country had just achieved independence, with a new one that introduced a semi-presidential system. President François Tombalbaye replaced that constitution on April 16, 1962, with a third constitution that provided for a fully presidential system. Under this constitution, the president was elected for a seven-years' term by a restricted electoral college, composed by National Assembly deputees, mayors, municipal councillors and chiefs. The new constitution also ushered the way to the one party-system by restricting election to the assembly through a single electoral list. The passage to one-party rule was later officialized through the constitutional law of December 29, 1965, amending the 1962 constitution. Eventually Tombalbaye opted for a new constitution in November 1973, on the wave of the cultural revolution and the demise of the Chadian Progressive Party in favour of the National Movement for the Cultural and Social Revolution, so that the new constitutional text would enshrine the regime's ideology.

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