Chadians from northern desert to southern jungles voted Sunday in an election that will decide who rules the Central African country as oil money promises to transform its desperately poor economy.
President Idriss Deby, 49, hopes to extend more than a decade of rule that began when he seized power at the head of a lightning rebellion in the former French colony in 1990.
Six opponents accuse him of plotting to cheat.
Voting began after the scheduled 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) start in many parts of Chad, which is twice the size of its former colonial power, spanning black and Arab Africa and stretching from southern jungle to the middle of the Sahara desert.
"I came with my wife to vote. It is important. I voted for someone who must rule this country," said Hassan Mahamat Hassan, a 53-year-old doctor in the capital N'djamena. Hundreds gathered at some polling booths with men and women in different lines.
Deby's main opponents are national assembly speaker Wadel Abdelkader Kamougue, 62, a former rebel leader who came second in the first multi-party election in 1996, and Saleh Kebzabo, 54, who came third and then backed Deby in a runoff -- N'DJAMENA (Reuters)
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