By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Opposition leader in Chad, Succes Masra has filed a legal suit before the country’s constitutional council seeking the annulment of the May 6 presidential election in which the junta leader, Mahamat Idriss Deby was declared winner by the electoral commission.
According to provisional results, Déby polled 61.3% to defeat Masra his closest rival who garnered 18.53% of votes.
The legal action came after dozens of activists from Masra’s Transformers Party were arrested and accused of forging documents to get illegal access to vote counts.
“With the help of our lawyers, … we submitted a request to the Constitutional Council to reveal the truth of the ballot boxes,” Masra said in posts on social media platforms Facebook and X on Sunday, urging his supporters to remain calm.
“Our request is for the annulment, pure and simple, of this electoral farce,” Sitack Yombatina, vice president of Transformers Party told AFP.
“All the evidence is in the USB keys,” attached to the request lodged with the Constitutional Council, he added.
Yombatina noted that they included video footage of voting boxes being stuffed, thefts, threats, “but most of all ballot boxes that were taken away by the soldiers to be counted elsewhere”.
Masra had earlier claimed victory before the final result was released but warned that Deby’s would manipulate the results.
Heritage Times HT recalls that Masra, a former fierce critic of Déby had been appointed as Pime Minister by Déby just four months before the presidential election. Masra ran to succeed the interim President.
Déby took over as transitional president three years ago after his inauguration by his fellow generals.
He succeeded his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who was killed in 2021 by rebels after 30 years in power in which he ruled with iron feast.
