Chad: Deby Wins Re-election

By Eric Sande

Chad's incumbent President, Idriss Deby, has won a presidential re-election bid by a landslide in an election boycotted by the opposition. This is according to preliminary results published Monday by the country's election commission.

Chad's electoral commission says provisional results from the April 25 poll show President Idriss Deby won by 88.66 percent of the vote. The challengers Albert Pahimi Padacké had secured 6.03 percent of the vote and Nadji Madou 5.32 percent.

The outcome was rejected by the opposition as illegitimate after a boycott. Their refusal to take part, came after growing concerns that thousands of voter cards from a February legislative vote could be used to help steal the presidential poll.  One of those candidates, 72-year-old Abdelkader Wadal Kamougoue, died Monday just hours before provisional results were released.

The head of Chad's election commission told a news conference that the voter turnout was more than 64 percent indicating that the opposition boycott failed.  However, election observers from the African Union believe turnout was below the 51 percent reached during February's legislative vote.

Awaiting confirmation by Chad's Constitutional Court, the results give President Deby another five-year mandate, his fourth since taking power in a 1990 coup in the oil-producing central African state. 

Chad produces about 115,000 barrels of oil a day, but remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

Deby has spent much of the time since his last win in 2006 tackling a rebellion in the east.

In 2008 he faced a rebel barrage on the capital that killed hundreds, but he has since made peace with Sudan, ending what analysts said was a proxy war fought by each country's rebels.

Deby has signed two infrastructure deals with China in recent months, including a $7.5 billion (4.5 billion pounds) agreement with engineering firm CCECC to build 1,344 km (835 miles) of railway.