Chad's President Idriss Deby re-elected amid boycott

Chad's President Idriss Deby has been re-elected for a fourth term, provisional official results show. Mr Deby secured 89% of the 25 April vote, which was boycotted by the main opposition after their demands for electoral reforms had not been met. Voter turnout was 64%, electoral officials said. Mr Deby, who has faced two attempted coups since the last polls, has recently mended relations with Sudan, where rebel fighters were based. He has been in power for more than 20 years after seizing power in a military coup, and changed the constitution in 2004 to scrap the two-term presidential limit. The main opposition parties accused Mr Deby's Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) of rigging February's parliamentary elections and pulled out of the presidential poll. They said they would refuse to recognise the results. One of the three boycotting opposition figures, Abdelkader Wadal Kamougue, died aged 72 after a long illness hours before the results were announced. Chad became an oil-producing nation in 2003, but remains one of Africa's poorest countries. Source: BBC < Prev   Next >