Masra, the leader of the Chad opposition, challenges the results of the presidential election

Succes Masra, the head of the opposition in Chad, has filed a formal appeal with the nation’s constitutional council to contest the preliminary results of the country’s May 6 presidential election in Central Africa.

Provisional results from the state-run national election management board on Thursday showed Masra finishing far behind with 18.53% of the vote, while interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby emerged victorious with 61.3% of the vote.

Masra, the prime minister of a transitional administration, had declared victory earlier than the official announcement, claiming that an election fraud was being organized.

“With the assistance of our attorneys, we filed a request to the Constitutional Council to disclose the truth of the ballot boxes,” Masra said on Sunday, encouraging his followers to maintain composure in posts on Facebook and X.

He produced a copy of an invoice attesting to the filing of documents with the council, which, according to an opposition official close to Masra, contained films purportedly demonstrating vote stuffing and other forms of wrongdoing as well as copies of polling place results sheets and a table compiling the statistics.

“Everything was documented,” the individual declared.

As the first of several coup-hit nations in West and Central Africa to try a return to constitutional governance, political tensions are running high in Chad. When Deby’s father, Idriss Deby, was assassinated by rebels in April 2021, the former won the succession.

According to Amnesty International and Chadian media, after the results were announced on Friday, celebratory gunfire resulted in the deaths of at least 10 people, including children, and the injuries of numerous others.

The press unions in Chad denounced the health ministry’s request for media not to video or report on patients within hospitals, despite the ministry’s admission that some individuals were injured during the celebration of Deby’s victory.