Chadian General Council election, 1946–47

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General Council elections were held in Chad on 15 December 1946, with a second round of voting on 12 January 1947.

Chad Country in central Africa

Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in north-central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. It is the fifth largest country in Africa and the second-largest in Central Africa in terms of area.

Contents

Background

The French Constituent Assembly elected in 1945 passed law 46.972 on 9 May 1946, creating a 36-member General Council for Chad. The Council would be elected by a single college by majority vote in one round. There would be two constituencies, each electing 18 seats. The southern constituency would cover Logone, Mayo-Kebbi and Moyen Chari, and a northern constituency covering the rest of the territory. However, the law was not promulgated in French Equatorial Africa. [1]

French Equatorial Africa federation of French colonial possessions in Central Africa

French Equatorial Africa, or the AEF, was the federation of French colonial possessions in Equatorial Africa, extending northwards from the Congo River into the Sahel, and comprising what are today the countries of Chad, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon.

Shortly before the end of its mandate, the new Constituent Assembly elected in June 1946 passed law 46.2152 on 7 October 1946, which annulled law 46.972 and gave the provisional government the power to create representative assemblies by decree. This was duly used by Prime Minister Georges Bidault to issue decree 46.2374 on 25 October 1946, creating general councils for the territories of French Equatorial Africa. [1]

Georges Bidault French politician

Georges-Augustin Bidault was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and prime minister on several occasions before he joined the Organisation armée secrète.

Electoral system

Decree 46.2374 provided for a 30-seat General Council, with a term of five years. Ten seats were elected by a First College consisting of French citizens with civil status and twenty by a Second College comprising citizens with personal status or those from areas under French administration (i.e. Cameroon and French Togoland). [1] [2] The elections were held using the two-round system, with candidates required to receive a majority of the vote (and for their vote share to be higher than 25% of the registered electorate) to be elected in the first round. In the second round only a plurality was needed. [3]

Cameroon Republic in West Africa

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Although Cameroon is not an ECOWAS member state, it geographically and historically is in West Africa with the Southern Cameroons which now form her Northwest and Southwest Regions having a strong West African history. The country is sometimes identified as West African and other times as Central African due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West and Central Africa.

French Togoland former French colonial mandate

French Togoland was a French colonial League of Nations mandate from 1916 to 1960 in French West Africa. In 1960 it became the independent Togolese Republic, and the present day nation of Togo.

Two-round system voting system used to elect a single winner where a second round of voting is used if no candidate wins an absolute majority in the first round

The two-round system is a voting method used to elect a single winner, where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. However, if no candidate receives the required number of votes, then those candidates having less than a certain proportion of the votes, or all but the two candidates receiving the most votes, are eliminated, and a second round of voting is held.

Order 3267 on 18 November 1946 created the constituencies used, with seats allocated based on population rather than the number of registered voters: [3]

ConstituencyPrefecturesSeatsElectorate
First college
North BET, Ouaddaï, Salamat (minus Melfi)4224
South-WestRest of Chad6611
Second College
I BET, Kanem, Massakory 24,292
II Ouaddaï 43,669
III Batha, Salamat (minus Melfi)33,160
IV Bongor, Fort Lamy, Chari-Baguirmi (minus Massakory), Melfi 35,547
VLogone (minus Doba), Mayo-Kébbi (minus Bongor)54,781
VI Doba, Moyen-Chari 36,470

Results

First College

In the North constituency all four seats were won in the first round by the Republican Union of Chad candidates, with the Union of Left Republicans candidates receiving between 58 and 62 votes. In the South-West constituency, two candidates from Albert Blanchard's Independent List were elected in the first round, forcing a second round of voting to decide the other four seats, with Blanchard himself failing to be elected in the first round. Blanchard's list was competing with a second independent list and the Republican Union of Chad. In the second round the best-placed candidate of the second independent list received only 79 votes. [4]

ConstituencyCandidatePartyFirst roundSecond roundNotes
Votes%Votes%
North Eugène Sabin Republican Union of Chad79Elected
Joseph Schaeffert Republican Union of Chad75Elected
William Tardrew Republican Union of Chad74Elected
Marcel Lallia Republican Union of Chad73Elected
Union of Left Republicans58–62
South-West Louis Richard Independent List203Elected
Marcel Vincent Independent List191Elected
Albert Blanchard Independent List168171Elected
Jean Anceau Independent List153164Elected
LaïdetIndependent List145
Antoine LaubieIndependent List133150
MartelIndependent List––155Elected
André Kieffer Republican Union of Chad163170Elected
Valid votes50098.04376100
Invalid/blank votes101.9600.00
Total votes510100376100
Registered voters/turnout83561.0861161.54
Source: Lanne

Second College

In the Second College, electoral manipulation by the French authorities resulted in conservative candidates winning 13 of the 20 seats. [2] The African Democratic Bloc of Ouaddaï (BADO) filed a complaint, which led to an official inspection. Although the report found a disproportionately high voter turnout in the district of Biltine, Chad and that BADO had obtained the majority of votes in Abéché, the result was not overturned. [5]

PartyVotes%Seats
Chadian-French Progressive List 4,82431.127
Progressive and Republican Union of Chad 3,66323.546
Republican Union 2,59816.704
List of Independents1,68110.803
Communist List1,0786.930
Franco-Chadian Progressive Group1,0106.490
African Democratic Bloc of Ouaddaï3762.420
Independent List3112.000
Invalid/blank votes110––
Total15,66910020
Registered voters/turnout27,91956.12–
Source: Lanne

Elected MPs

ConstituencyElected memberParty
First College
North Eugène Sabin Republican Union of Chad
Joseph Schaeffert Republican Union of Chad
William Tardrew Republican Union of Chad
Marcel Lallia Republican Union of Chad
South-West Louis Richard List of Independents
Marcel Vincent Independent List
Albert Blanchard Independent List
Jean Anceau Independent List
MartelIndependent List
André Kieffer Republican Union of Chad
Second College
I Alifa Zezerti Chadian-French Progressive List
Mohamed Bechir-Sow Chadian-French Progressive List
II Henri Montchamp Republican Union
Baroud Adoum Mahamat Republican Union
Abderrahman Diallo Republican Union
Brahim Moustafa Republican Union
III Arabi el Goni List of Independents
Adoum Aganaye List of Independents
Kadre Alio List of Independents
IV Marcel Tournade Progressive and Republican Union of Chad
Ibrahim Babikir Progressive and Republican Union of Chad
N'Daw Alioune Progressive and Republican Union of Chad
V Ouaïdou Chadian-French Progressive List
Tobio dit Markinzaye Chadian-French Progressive List
Gontchomé Sahoulba Chadian-French Progressive List
Paul Nodjoudou Chadian-French Progressive List
René Manguet Chadian-French Progressive List
VI Toura Gaba Progressive and Republican Union of Chad
Marc Dounia Progressive and Republican Union of Chad
Kodebri Nagué Progressive and Republican Union of Chad

Aftermath

Following the elections, three distinct political groups emerged in the Second College; members of the Chadian-French Progressive List (7 seats), Republican Union (four seats) and Franco-Chadian Progressive Group (unrepresented) formed the Chadian Democratic Union (UDT). A group which later became the Chadian Progressive Party (PPT) was formed by the Progressive and Republican Union of Chad (six seats), BADO and the Communist list (both unrepresented). The third group was made up of the three independents; Adoum Aganaye joined the PPT, whilst Kadre Alio and Arabi el Goni joined the UDT, giving the UDT thirteen seats and the PPT seven. [5]

The General Council met for the first time on 30 January 1947 at 8am, when its first session was opened by Governoer Jacques Rogué. [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Bernard Lanne (1998) Histoire politique du Tchad de 1945 à 1958: administration, partis, élections, KARTHALA Editions, p98
  2. 1 2 Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Dieter Nohlen & Klaus Landfried (1978) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band II: Afrika, Erster Halbband, pp2219–2220 (in German)
  3. 1 2 Lanne, p99
  4. ↑ Lanne, pp104–105
  5. 1 2 Lanne, p102
  6. ↑ Lanne, p106
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