The proposed amendments to the constitution included the removal of two-term limit on the President, the replacement of the Senate with a Cultural, Economic and Social Council, and giving the President powers to amend the constitution.

[1][2] The amendments were proposed by incumbent President Idriss Déby, who was due to complete his second term in 2006.

In June 2001 Déby had promised to step down after his second term, stating: I make a public commitment: I will not be candidate at the 2006 presidential election.

I will not change the Constitution [...] What remains to do for me in my last mandate, is to prepare Chad for alternation in government.

The abstentionists allied themselves in the Coordination des Partis politiques pour la Défense de la Constitution (CPDC), an alliance of 24 parties including the Rally for Democracy and Progress and the Union for Renewal and Democracy.