Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, the son of Chad’s former President and the African country’s interim military leader, took the oath of office as the country’s new president after the Constitutional Council confirmed his victory.
Déby, who secured 61 percent of the votes in the May 6 presidential election, will lead the nation’s affairs for the next five years.
Despite the opposition leader’s rejection of the result and civil society groups’ complaints of massive electoral fraud, the Constitutional Council maintained that it was free and fair.
Déby took power with a group of generals in 2021, after the death of his father, Idriss Déby Itno, and suspended the constitution.
His father had previously ruled the country for more than 30 years.
Since 2020, seven African countries have experienced successful military coups, and Chad is the first to hold elections since then.
Chad, a country of 19 million people, has never experienced a peaceful transfer of power since it gained its independence from France in August 1960.
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