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Succès goes to court

The opposition leader says he has filed an appeal with the country's Constitutional Council to challenge the preliminary results of the presidential election 

The 6 May presidential poll was supposed to have been about creating a 'democratic veneer'. Instead, it is set to go to the country's Constitutional Court.

Few doubted that President General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' would be declared the winner in the first round and, last week, election officials announced that Kaka had won 61.03% of the vote against his Prime Minister Succès Masra's 18.53%. Masra was appointed only in January after several years of living in exile in the United States and his decision to contest the election was seen by many as a ploy to make the poll look more like a competition (Dispatches 12/3/2024, Succès the spoiler).

However, after a campaign in which relations between Kaka and Masra became increasingly bitter, with Kaka accusing Masra of planning a coup in October 2022, the co-opted opposition leader Masra has formally challenged the result at the Constitutional Council, with his supporters accusing Kaka of rigging the polls (AC Vol 65 No 10, Coup zone election pits votes against tanks & Vol 63 No 22, Massacre threatens transition plan).

Dozens of activists from Masra's Les Transformateurs were arrested and accused of forgery and using false documents before and during polling day.

Officials in Masra's party say that their submission to the Constitutional Council includes video footage of threats and intimidation of party officials, voting boxes being stuffed and of all ballot boxes being taken away by soldiers to be counted in secret.

'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 in a Facebook post on 12 May. 

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