Chad, on Thursday, ended three-year military rule as Mahamat Deby was sworn in as president after an electoral victory contested by the opposition.
The inaguration was graced by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and seven other African heads of state, as well as Constitutional Council members and hundreds of guests.
Deby officially won 61 per cent of the May 6 votes.
AFP reports that while taking the oath of office at the Palace of Arts and Culture in the capital N’Djamena, Deby said he swore “before the Chadian people to fulfill the high functions that the nation has entrusted to us.”
The presidential term runs for five years and can be renewed once.
In a speech, the president declared a “return to constitutional order” and pledged to be “the president of Chadians from all backgrounds and of all sensibilities.”
Deby was proclaimed transitional president in April 2021 by a junta of 15 generals after his father, iron-fisted president Idriss Deby, was shot dead by rebels after 30 years in power.
The swearing-in marks the end of three years of military rule in the country.
AFP also reports that Prime Minister Succes Masra, one of Deby’s opponents before becoming prime minister, handed in his resignation on Wednesday in the wake of his party’s election defeat after just four months in office.
Masra, an economist who won 18.5 per cent of the vote, contested the results and did not attend the inauguration.
He had claimed victory after the first round of voting but faced accusations of being a junta stooge by the opposition, which had been violently repressed in Chad, with its top members barred from the election.
After the Constitutional Council rejected Masra’s bid to annul the result, he said there was “no other national legal recourse” and called on supporters to “remain mobilised” but “peaceful”.(AFP)
