Chad’s ruling party, led by military leader Mahamat Idriss Déby, has dominated the country’s first-ever Senate elections, securing 43 out of 46 seats, according to official results released on Tuesday.
The election, held in late February, marked the final step in a transition that began when Déby took control following the death of his father four years ago.
Déby was elected to a five-year presidential term last May in a vote shunned by opposition groups and dismissed by international rights organisations as lacking fairness and credibility.
Having recently been promoted to Field Marshal, the military leader has steadily tightened his grip over the Sahelian nation, which is largely arid and landlocked.
Chad’s Constitutional Council confirmed that two Senate seats initially assigned to Déby’s Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) were instead given to allied parties after an appeal.
Shortly after the final results were announced, Déby appointed the remaining 23 senators, completing the legislative body that will represent Chad’s autonomous regions.
The Senate is part of a two-chamber Parliament first introduced in 2020 through a reform, later reaffirmed in a constitutional referendum held in December 2023.
In legislative elections held the same month, the MPS also secured a significant victory, winning 124 of the 188 seats in the lower house.
Opposition parties boycotted both elections, claiming they were designed to deliver predetermined outcomes.
The vote occurred against a backdrop of escalating insecurity, with Boko Haram militants launching attacks in the Lake Chad region and Chad formally ending its military cooperation with France, its former colonial ruler.
