N’DJAMENA: Several people were hurt and some may have been killed in gunfire celebrating Chad’s interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby’s declared election victory on Thursday, an Amnesty International representative said, citing reports from partners.
Volleys of shots could be heard in the capital N’Djamena in the hours after the state election agency announced Deby had won a hefty 61.3 percent of the May 6 vote, even as his main challenger rejected the result and called for protests.
“Deaths and injuries from bullets have been reported ... The exact number of victims is unknown, but there is already talk of around 10 dead, including children,” said Amnesty International researcher Abdoulaye Diarra.
BACKGROUND
President Mahamat Idriss Deby seized power when rebels killed his long-ruling father, Idriss Deby, in April 2021.
The chaotic celebrations followed a fraught electoral period marked by the killing of opposition figure Yaya Dillo, the omission of prominent opposition politicians from the candidate list, and other issues that critics say undermined the credibility of the vote.
N’Djamena was calm on Friday, with little sign of the leading challenger Succes Masra’s supporters taking to the streets.
Supporters of Chad's junta chief Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno celebrate their candidate's victory in a street in N'Djamena on May 9, 2024, after the electoral commission said Deby won 61.03 percent of votes. (AFP)
There was a heavy police presence, including convoys filled with men in camouflage fatigues patrolling the nearly empty streets.
On Friday, Masra’s Transformateurs party, keeping a parallel vote tally, said he had won based on their count.
The party said in an online post: “We have the evidence, and Chadians all know it.”
The presidential election makes Chad the first coup-hit countries in West and Central Africa to stage a return to constitutional rule via the ballot box. However, Masra and other opposition factions have cried foul over transparency concerns.
Abdou Abarry, special representative of the UN Secretary-General in Central Africa, called on all parties to show restraint.
While Masra drew larger-than-expected crowds on the campaign trail, analysts had widely predicted that Deby would win.
Deby seized power when rebels killed his long-ruling father, Idriss Deby, in April 2021.
“Post-election protests are possible, though the threat of police repression could dissuade many people from taking to the streets,” Crisis Group experts said ahead of the vote.
The election is being closely watched from abroad.
While other juntas in the insurgency-torn Sahel region, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, have told Paris and other Western powers to withdraw and turned to Moscow for support, Chad remains the last Sahel state with a substantial French military presence.
Security and the economy have been key campaign issues.
One of the world’s least-developed countries, Chad’s meager resources have been stretched thinner by multiple shocks, including climate change-fueled heatwaves and a refugee crisis linked to the civil war in Sudan.
