Opposition parties have urged Chadians to boycott the vote, saying it is a sham aimed at increasing the power of the ruling party.
Voting has begun in Chad's presidential election Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno He has presented it as a key factor in the democratic transition but is boycotted by the opposition parties in the country.
Chad's armed forces and nomadic tribes were invited to vote on Saturday for transport reasons.
But most people in the African country of about 20 million people will vote on Sunday to elect parliament, regional assemblies and central councils. Voting will be open from 6am to 5pm local time (05:00 to 16:00 GMT).
Reporting from the capital N'Djamena on Saturday afternoon, Al Jazeera's Catherine Soi said many Chadians expressed feeling “untouchable” in the run-up to the vote.
“They say they don't expect to see any change. They said they believe that the ruling party will win no matter what,” he said.
“Most of them are just talking about … bread and butter issues: They say the cost of living is too high. They are talking about the corruption and nepotism that is rampant.”
Opposition parties in the country have called on people to ignore the vote, which they say is fake.
“No campaign, no vote on December 29. Stay home and ask others to do the same,” the main Transformers protest group said in a Facebook post.
However, about 45 percent of the country's 200,000 pilgrims and 45,000 soldiers had cast their ballots by Saturday afternoon, according to preliminary estimates.
Soldiers have started arriving early at the polling station in Koundoul square near N'Djamena, AFP reports.
“Voting is going well. “The military will vote freely,” said Ousmane Houzibe, head of the electoral commission.
'Great anxiety'
The election is being held against the backdrop of repeated attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region.
Chad too soon terminated the military alliance France is a country that was ruled by the colonialists and has been accused of meddling in the war that is destroying the neighboring country of Sudan.
President Deby's government has proposed weekend elections as an important step in the transition to democratic rule.
The 40-year-old leader assumed power in 2021 after the death of his father. Idriss Deby Iwowho ruled the world with iron for thirty years.
Academician Mamadou Bodian said that although the elections were “very important”, bringing to the end of three years, they are highly contested and appear to favor the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party.
“Even the electoral commission seems to be controlled by people loyal to the ruling party,” Bodian told Al Jazeera. “And this raises concerns not only about the process, but also about the integrity of the entire electoral system.”
A lack of international observers and an “inconclusive” vote-counting system also deepen long-standing distrust of Chad's elections, Bodian said.
The strike by the opposition “reflects the widespread belief that these elections are neither free nor fair”, he added. “And this also casts doubt on Chad's democratic prospects.”
Deby has won a five years in office as president in May after a vote that critics denounced as fraudulent. The last legislative election took place in 2011.