Chad Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke has resigned in order to pave the way for a new government after the country decided to push back elections by two years.

The president’s office said this on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Padacke, a civilian politician, was named prime minister of a transitional military government last year after President Mahamat Idriss Deby seized power in the wake of his father’s death.

The military council led by Deby was originally meant to rule for 18 months, but this month the country announced it would push back democratic elections until around October 2024.

Deby was sworn in on Monday as president for the new phase of the transition, and is expected to appoint a new premier.

Padacke also served as prime minister from 2016 to 2018 and was seen as an ally of the former president Idriss Deby, who ruled Chad for 30 years until his death in April 2021.

Meanwhile, the transitional government appointed 75-year-old Saleh Kebzabo as the new prime minister on Wednesday.

Kebzabo heads the main opposition National Union for Democracy and Renewal. He came second in the last presidential election in 2016 and third in a previous 2011 poll.