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President Deby Wins Re-Election in Chad
Chad's President Idriss Deby has been re-elected with strong support widely outstripping his nearest rival, official results showed early on Monday.
The re-election gives Deby a mandate to rule the huge Central African country for a five-year period, during which revenues from a major oil project hold out the promise of transforming one of the world's poorest economies.
Although the opposition said the election was marred by massive fraud, foreign observers have said the vote appeared to have been fair despite organizational problems in a country twice the size of former colonial power France.
Deby, who repeatedly said he expected to win in the first round, took 67.35 percent of valid votes cast in the May 20 poll, the electoral commission said in a live broadcast on state media.
The closest among Deby's six challengers was Ngarledjy Yorongar, an outspoken critic of the president's oil policies, who won 13.9 percent of the vote. Turnover topped 80 percent.
"We welcome the maturity of the voters and above all thank them for trusting us," Deby's campaign director, David Houdeingar, told state radio shortly after the results were announced.
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