Chad’s constitutional council has put an end to the dispute trailing the May 6 presidential elections in the country by confirming Mahamat Idriss Deby as the winner of the disputed elections.
The constitutional council dismissed challenges by the two losing candidates to hand Idriss Deby the victory cementing his position as the West African country’s elected leader.
According to the East African, General Idriss Deby, now President Idriss Deby, was declared winner by the country’s election management agency when he won 61 percent of the vote ahead of his counterpart, Succes Masra, who secured a distant 18.54% of votes.
This result has now been confirmed by Chad’s Constitutional Council after it was previously disputed by the two runners-up in the election.
The constitutional council ruled that both complaints had lacked sufficient proof.
“In view of the votes cast on the occasion of the presidential election of May 6, Mahamat Idriss Deby having obtained … more than the absolute majority of votes cast, that it is appropriate to declare him president-elect of the republic,” the council’s president, Jean-Bernard Padare, said
.Succes Masra the opposition leader has acknowledged the council’s ruling stating that he has no intention to fight it.
“With the decision of the constitutional council today, we have used all available legal means, and even if we do not accept this decision, there are no other legal means in our judicial architecture,” he said in a live address on Thursday evening.
Albert Pahimini Padacke, the other candidate who challenged the preliminary results, congratulated Deby on his win.
Chad is the first of the coup-hit African countries in West and Central African to attempt to return to constitutional rule by holding an election.
The just-concluded elections were disputed by international bodies like the International Crisis Group, which cited that various problems in the run-up to the elections hampered the credibility of the election process.
A similar sentiment was shared by the US State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, who pointed out serious concerns on the conduct of the concluded elections.
Matthew Miller, in a statement, said that Washington was concerned that thousands of civil society and opposition party observers were barred from observing the electoral process the day before the vote.
However, the United States welcomed the return to constitutional rule by the country.
“Although there were troubling shortcomings, we welcome the milestones in Chad’s transition process, including negotiating with insurgents, undertaking a National Dialogue, holding a constitutional referendum, and conducting a presidential election,” he said.
What to know
President Mahamat Idriss Deby seized power in 2021 when his father who had ruled the country for over three decades was killed by rebels in a visit to the war front. He declared himself interim leader and promised to return the country to constitutional rule in no distant time.
Chad, under Idriss Deby, has maintained its ties with western allies despite the anti-West sentiments sweeping through African countries such as Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso who are cutting western allyship and seeking other alternatives.