By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The military leader in Chad, Mahamat Deby Itno, has been declared the winner of this week’s presidential election, according to provisional results released on Thursday.
Monday’s vote aimed to end three years of military rule in a country crucial to the fight against jihadism across Africa’s Sahel desert region.
The ANGE electoral commission said Deby won 61.03 percent of votes, beating his Prime Minister Succes Masra who only garnered 18.53 percent, in results due to be confirmed by the Constitutional Council.
Succès Masra is contesting the outcome of the election.
Preliminary results were initially expected on May 21.
Chad held its long delayed presidential election following three years of military rule, a vote that analysts widely expected the incumbent to win.
Deby Itno, also known as Mahamat Idriss Deby, seized power after his father, who spent three decades in power, was killed fighting rebels in 2021.
The oil-exporting country of nearly 18 million people hasn’t had a free-and-fair transfer of power since it became independent in 1960 after decades of French colonial rule.
Hours ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Masra published a speech on Facebook accusing the authorities of planning to manipulate the outcome.
Former premier Albert Pahimi Padacke came third with 16.91 percent of votes in an election that saw turnout of 75.89 percent, ANGE chief Ahmed Bartchiret announced.
Heritage Times HT recalls that Deby was proclaimed transitional president by fellow army generals in 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled Chad with an iron fist for 30 years, was killed in a gun battle with rebels.
He promised an 18-month transition to democracy but then extended it by two years.
Opposition figures have since left the country for fear of attacks by the junta. Others have been silenced or joined forces with Deby.
Deby’s cousin and chief election rival Yaya Dillo Djerou was shot point-blank in the head in an army assault on February 28, according to his party.
The International Federation for Human Rights had warned that the election appeared “neither credible, free nor democratic”.
