CHAD: FINAL ELECTION RESULTS -- DEBY WINS, BY

UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000771 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF, AF/C, DRL, PRM, LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM CD SUBJECT: CHAD: FINAL ELECTION RESULTS -- DEBY WINS, BY LESS. ¶1. (SBU) The Chadian Constitutional Council announced 28 May the official results of the 3 May presidential elections. The Council declared President Idriss Deby Itno the winner in the first round, with 64.67 percent of the votes cast, from a voter turnout of 53.8 percent of the estimated 5.7 million registered voters. Former Prime Minister Kassire Coumakoye of the National Rally for Democracy and Progress (Viva RNDP) officially received 15.3 percent, and 7.82 percent went to Minister of Agriculture Albert Panimi Padacke (National Rally of Chadian Democrats -- RNDT-le Reveil). Two other candidates, Minister-Delegate for Decentralization Mahamat Abdoulaye (Movement for Peace and Development in Chad -- MPDT) and Brahim Koulamallah of the Reformed Chadian Socialist Movement (MSA/R) were credited with 7.07 percent and 5.31 percent of the vote, respectively. ¶2. (SBU) The official results differed from those provisionally announced shortly after the election by the National Independent Electoral Commission (Commission Electorale Nationale Independante -- CENI). The Constitutional Council revised downward Deby's total and the turnout figure, and the opponents' totals upward. CONSTITUTIONAL CENI (percent) COUNCIL (percent) -------------- -------------- TURNOUT 61.49 53.8 DEBY ITNO 77.53 64.67 COUMAKOYE 8.81 15.15 PANIMI PADACKE 5.35 7.82 ABDOULAYE 4.64 7.07 KOULAMALLAH 3.67 5.31 -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶3. (SBU) One press report called the Constitutional Council's numbers a "desperate attempt to make credible the electoral farce of 3 May." As noted reftel, we have good reason to believe many of the ballots counted arrived in the voting urns by fraudulent means. Given that there is little confidence among Chadians in any aspect of the electoral process, we do not expect the more realistic numbers to increase confidence in the legitimacy of President Deby Itno's third term. END COMMENT. WALL