Chad’s Prime Minister Succès Masra, who was presumed to be the winner of the presidential election, admitted his defeat on Thursday as the constitutional court validated Idriss Deby’s victory in the May 6 polls. He added there will be no legal recourse against the election of Mahamat Déby, calling on his supporters to continue « peacefully » the « political fight ».
The head of Chad’s military government, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, who had being in power for the past three years, was recently elected President of Chad with over 61% of the vote in the May 6 election, according to final results announced by the Constitutional Council.
A week ago, Masra declared himself the winner of the election. An hour after the Constitutional Council announced that it had rejected his request for the vote to be annulled, Masra admitted defeat in a « message to the nation » posted on social media. « With this decision by the Constitutional Council … we have exhausted all national legal avenues and, even if we do not agree with the figures announced today, there are no other legal avenues left at the national level, » he said.
The Constitutional Council’s decision « is binding on all actors », he wrote, adding: « The demands of the people require us to find a political response that goes beyond legal remedies, urging his followers to remain mobilised and peaceful, » concluded the prime minister.
Masra was one of Déby’s fiercest opponents before becoming his prime minister four months ago. According to the Constitutional Council, Masra came second in the presidential election, with 18.54% of the vote. His party denounced the poll as an « electoral farce » a week ago and now the question is whether he will remain prime minister. On 9 May, hours before the provisional official results were announced, Masra claimed » in the first round », according to a compilation of votes carried out by his activists across the country.
The election marks the end of a three-year military transition and the return to constitutional order in the country since the former leader, Idriss Deby was killed at the front by rebels in April 2021.
