Chad election results to be announced ahead of schedule

N'DJAMENA, CHAD - Chad's electoral commission says official results from this week's presidential election will be announced later on Thursday, or nearly two weeks earlier than expected.

The surprise announcement follows Monday's vote, which aims to end three years of military rule.

The two main rivals are junta leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, who was proclaimed transitional president by the military three years ago, and Prime Minister Succes Masra, a former opposition leader.

Results had been expected on 21 May.

"The ceremony for the solemn declaration of provisional results from the presidential vote of May 6 will be held today... from 8:00 pm," (1900 GMT) Ahmed Bartchiret, president of the ANGE national electoral agency, said in a statement.

Voters faced a decision whether to extend three decades of Deby family rule, in a country crucial to the fight against jihadism across the Sahel desert region.

Opponents had called for a boycott of the election, dismissing it as fixed.

Deby Itno was proclaimed transitional president by fellow army generals in 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed in a gun battle with rebels following 30 years in power.

He promised an 18-month transition to democracy but then extended it by two years.

Opposition figures have since fled, been silenced or joined forces with Deby Itno.

On Wednesday, Masra's party condemned violence against him and his supporters, urging people to defend their "will expressed at the ballot box" against electoral fraud.