YAOUNDE, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chad convened the first session of its new parliament on Tuesday, the first of its kind in more than a decade.
Amid strict security measures, 188 lawmakers were sworn in at the session, during which a parliamentary speaker and deputies would be elected.
The new parliament was elected in December 2024, with the ruling party Patriotic Salvation Movement securing 124 seats out of 188, according to official results released by the country's Constitutional Council.
Parliamentary elections were last held in the Central African nation in 2011. The mandate of the lawmakers was scheduled to end in 2015, but authorities postponed the elections several times, citing lack of money to manage the elections and COVID-19 disruptions.
In 2021, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno assumed power after his father Idriss Deby Itno died of wounds sustained on the front line in the country's north. He led a three-year transitional government before convening legislative, regional, and municipal elections on Dec. 29, 2024. ■
