Chad’s PM gives reason for resigning position as court affirms Mahamat Deby as president

Chad’s prime minister and opposition leader, Succes Masra, has resigned his position after interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby was declared the winner of the May 6 presidential election.

Masra announced on Wednesday that he resigned his role and that of the transitional government, which has become irrelevant with the end of the presidential election.

The fierce opponent of the junta that took power in April 2021 was appointed prime minister of the transitional government in January to calm the opposition.

The ex-prime minister later joined the race to become president in a political exercise aimed at returning the country to constitutional order after a string of military takeovers that swept across states in West and Central Africa’s Sahel region.

Mr. Masra had earlier claimed victory, alleging that electoral fraud was being planned to ease the win for his rival, Mahamat Idriss Deby.

He later accepted defeat after Chad’s state election body declared Deby had won the election with 61% of the vote.

Chad’s constitutional council has since confirmed him as a winner.

Mr. Masra, in his resignation letter, said there were no other legal means to contest the results, which declared the incumbent president the winner.

The win for President Deby means that he would continue his family’s hold on power since his father took over in a coup in the early 1990s.