Chad PM claims first-round win in presidential vote

Chad's Prime Minister Succes Masra on Thursday claimed a "resounding" first-round victory over junta chief Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno in this week's presidential election, shortly before official results were due to be released.

Monday's vote aimed to end three years of military rule in a country crucial to the fight against jihadism across Africa's Sahel desert region.

In a speech posted on his Facebook page, Masra said a count of the votes by his team "establishes the victory in the first round, that of change over the status quo".

"The victory is resounding and without blemish," he said.

Masra went on to say the team of Deby, who was proclaimed transitional president three years ago by the army, would soon announce that he had won and "steal the victory from the people".

Masra, a former opposition leader appointed prime minister in January, urged Chadians to "mobilise peacefully to prove our victory".

Officials said the presidential election results will be released later on Thursday, a surprise announcement nearly two weeks earlier than the scheduled date of May 21.

Masra had been fierce opponent of the regime before it named him prime minister in January. By Joris Bolomey (AFP)

Supporters of Masra, a 40-year-old economist, have been holding their own ballot count in parallel to the official one authorised by the junta-appointed ANGE election agency.

Voters faced a decision whether to extend three decades of Deby family rule but opponents had called for a boycott of the vote, dismissing it as fixed.

Deby and Masra faced eight other candidates who were either relatively unknown or considered not hostile to the regime.

'Pilot, co-pilot towards democracy'

Since announcing he would stand, Masra said he was doing so to maintain the current team of "pilot and co-pilot" of a plane headed "towards democracy", referring to himself and Deby.

Masra had been fierce opponent of the regime before it named him prime minister in January after he returned from exile.

He has faced accusations of being a stooge by the opposition, which has been violently repressed and its leading figures barred from standing.

Deby was proclaimed transitional president by fellow army generals in 2021. By Issouf SANOGO (AFP)

Early in the campaign, observers predicted a massive win for Deby, also aged 40, whose top rival was killed earlier this year.

However, Masra ramped up considerable support on the stump and could force a second round of voting, scheduled for June 22.

Deby was proclaimed transitional president by fellow army generals in 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled Chad with an iron fist for 30 years, was killed in a gun battle with rebels and

Deby promised an 18-month transition to democracy but then extended it by two years.

Opposition figures have since fled, been silenced or joined forces with Deby.

Deby's cousin and chief election rival Yaya Dillo Djerou was shot point-blank in the head in an army assault on February 28, according to his party.

The International Federation for Human Rights had warned that the election appeared "neither credible, free nor democratic".

The International Crisis Group also noted that "a number of problems in the run-up to the balloting cast doubt on its credibility".

On Wednesday, Masra's Transformers party condemned violence against him and his supporters, urging people to defend their "will expressed at the ballot box" against electoral fraud.

Chad has remained a firm ally in the anti-jihadist struggle of traditional security partner France, whose forces in recent years been ousted by military regimes in former African colonies including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The Sahel nations are reeling from jihadist insurgencies and have strengthened ties with Russia after severing them with Paris.