Succes Masra, the runner-up in the closely-watched presidential election in Chad, has filed a bid to annul the provisional result that declared the military leader Mahamat Idriss Deby as the winner, just as Chadian soldiers have been deployed in large numbers across the capital of N’Djamena, in case of unrest.
Deby, Chad’s transitional president, said he will serve all Chadians after winning the presidential election, but his top rival, Succes Masra, who came second, announced Sunday (12 May) he had lodged a request with the Constitutional Council to have the vote annulled. Even before the official results gave Deby more than 61% in last week’s ballot and the late-night celebrations marking the junta leader’s victory, the presidential guard had parked many armored vehicles on major junctions and thoroughfares. The number of troops on the streets of the capital city have reportedly appeared considerably larger than after previous elections.
“With the help of our lawyers, we have today filed a request with the Constitutional Council to reveal the truth at the ballot boxes,” said Masra said in a statement published on Facebook. The leader of the Transformers Party was acting after dozens of activists from his party were arrested and accused of having forged documents to get illegal access to vote counts. “All the evidence is in the USB keys,” said Sitack Yombatina, vice-president of Masra’s Transformers Party, referring to the evidence attached to the request that included thefts, threats, and video footage of voting boxes being stuffed and taken away by the soldiers to be counted elsewhere. Chad is considered the first of the military-led countries in Africa’s Sahel region, most notably Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, to hold a democratic election, though opposition and experts have questioned the vote’s fairness and credibility.