Chad’s junta-appointed prime minister on Sunday said he would contest May 6 presidential elections, eight days after incumbent Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno announced his candidacy.
Former opposition leader Succes Masra returned from exile and signed a reconciliation deal with Deby Itno before becoming premier this year.
The opposition says his candidacy is a ploy to give an appearance of pluralism in a vote the junta chief is certain to win with his main rivals dead or in exile.
Masra, 40, unveiled his election bid at a campaign meeting attended by hundreds of activists from his Transformers party, saying he wanted to “heal hearts and unite the people”.
Responding to critics who disapproved of his decision to ally with the junta, Masra defended “an agreement of the brave” that meant “our quest for justice is never transformed into a quest for revenge”.
