Chad's ruling party wins nearly all seats in first Senate vote, provisional results show

By Mahamat Ramadane

N'DJAMENA, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Chad's ruling party won 45 of 46 seats at stake in the country's first Senate election on Tuesday, provisional results partially contested by a main opposition party showed, fortifying President Mahamat Idriss Deby's grip on power.

Deby, 40, seized power in 2021 following the battlefield death of his father and predecessor Idriss Deby Itno. In May, he won 61% of votes in a tense presidential election that two losing candidates unsuccessfully challenged on allegations of fraud.

A legislative election held in late December and boycotted by many in the opposition handed his Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.

MPS won all but one of the 46 seats up for election in the Senate vote, the national electoral body said on Tuesday, with one seat going to the National Rally of Chadian Democrats (RNDT) party led by former Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke.

Padacke, who appears set to become the sole opposition senator, on Tuesday evening issued a statement protesting the inclusion of what he said were irregular ballots in Chad's second-largest city, Moundou.

In addition to 46 indirectly elected senators, who were voted for by municipal and provincial councillors, 23 senators will be appointed by the president.

The new senators will serve six-year renewable terms.

Since Deby's election, Chad - a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic militants in the Sahel region - ended its defence cooperation pact with France leading to the departure of French forces, and threatened to withdraw from a multinational security force from countries bordering Lake Chad.

The severing of military ties with France echoes moves by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which all kicked out French troops and fostered closer ties with Russia after a string of coups in West and Central Africa.