Chad’s Military Ruler Solidifies His Power in Parliamentary Vote
(Bloomberg) -- Military leader Mahamat Déby’s ruling party reinforced its grip on power by winning two-thirds of the seats in Chad’s parliamentary election, which was boycotted by the main opposition.
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The Patriotic Salvation Movement won 124 of 188 seats in the National Assembly in the Dec. 29 poll, according to preliminary results released on Sunday by the commission responsible for the tally. It previously held 83 seats.
Voter turnout figures weren’t immediately available, the National Electoral Management Agency said.
The results come days after an attack on the presidential palace in Chad’s capital N’Djamena killed 20 people and injured others.
Authorities who first deemed the attack as an destabilization attempt later said it was “an isolated and desperate act by young people” in the landlocked nation of about 20 million.
Déby grabbed power in 2021 after the death of his father, longterm leader Idriss Déby, who ruled Chad for three decades.
The younger Déby won a landslide in presidential elections in May that were meant to restore civilian rule. He’s faced criticism from former Prime Minister Succès Masra, who accused Deby’s military-turned-civilian government of using the parliamentary vote – the first in over a decade — to entrench his power.
Albert Pahimi Padacké, another former prime minister, won 12 seats in December’s vote with his party National Rally for Democracy in Chad.
Masra’s Les Transformateurs party boycotted the vote.
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