Chad: IdrissDeby has been re-elected amid fighting rebels in the country

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 08:00 am

President IdrissDébyItno, who has ruled Chad for 30 years, was re-elected for a sixth term with 79.32 percent of the vote, according to official results released Monday shortly after the army said it had defeated the uprising that began that day election April 11 and “more than 300 enemies were killed.

The turnout was 64.81 per cent in the election, which the outgoing president won unexpectedly in the first round, said the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (Ceni), KodiMahamat Bam, when he released the official figures for the “interim”. The Supreme Court still has to approve it after considering possible appeals.

Deby, 68, who took power in a 1990 uprising, won 79.3 percent of the vote in the April 11 election, the results showed Monday. Deby was expected to deliver a successful speech to his supporters but his campaign director, Mahamat Zen Bada, said he had instead gone to visit Chadian soldiers on the front lines.

“The candidate would like to come here for the celebration… but for now, he is standing by our brave and security defenders to fight the terrorists who are threatening our region,” Zen Bada told reporters.The Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), based across the northern border with Libya, attacked a border post on election day and then reached hundreds of kilometers south.

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Marshal Déby’s re-election was widely predicted by Chadians who voted unopposed on April 11, AFP reports in N’Djamena. The incumbent was opposed by six non-political candidates who were accused of being “stoog” only, as the government fired, legally or through violence and intimidation, divided opposition leaders.

As soon as the results were announced, a large number of activists from Mr. Déby, MPS, sang and danced in the center of Place de la Nation in N’Djamena. Sporadic gunfire erupts as Déby supporters celebrate victory as they have won each of the previous five elections since he took power in 1990.

We are celebrating a beautiful victory in the first round, but we also have a very strong opinion of our brothers, friends, Chadian soldiers who have fallen on the field of honor to defend peace, democracy and institutional continuitystate,”said MPS secretary general Mahamat Zen Bada.