Chad Counts Votes as Deby Seeks Sixth Term after 30 Years in Power
Voice of America
N'DJAMENA - Vote counting has started in Chad after a tense presidential election on Sunday that is likely to see President Idriss Deby extend his three-decade rule, despite signs of growing discontent over his handling of the nation's oil wealth.
Election officials began counting ballots at a polling station in center of the capital N'Djamena immediately after polls closed, watched by a group of observers, a Reuters reporter said. The election commission has until April 25 to announce provisional results. Deby, 68, was the first to cast his ballot at a polling station in the capital N'Djamena. He is one of Africa's longest-serving leaders and an ally of Western powers in the fight against Islamist militants in West and Central Africa.
FILE - This courtroom sketch by Valentin Pasquier shows Gisele Pelicot and her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, during his trial at the Avignon court house in Avignon, France, Sept. 17, 2024.
A Chinese national flag flutters in front of the HSBC headquarters and the Standard Chartered Building in Hong Kong, Sept. 22, 2020.
Soldiers stand next to detained migrants in Tripoli, Libya, in this photo released on Nov. 25, 2024. (Libyan Army 444th Combat Brigade/Handout via Reuters)
Ma Ying-li, second from right, stands with the crew after winning the Best Narrative Feature award for "An Unfinished Film" at the 61st Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 23, 2024. Ma is the wife of the film's director, Lou Ye.
Firefighters and security officers gather at a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Nov. 14, 2024.
FILE - Somalis march against the Ethiopia-Somaliland port deal along KM4 street in Mogadishu, Jan. 11, 2024.
A view shows a partially submerged rubbish bin on a mud-covered street, in the aftermath of Storm Bert, in Cwmtillery, South Wales, Britain, Nov. 25, 2024.
A Cambodian Mine Action Center, CMAC, staff member checks a mine detector at a minefield in Preytotoeung village, Battambang province, Cambodia, Jan. 19, 2023.
FILE - A boat arrives at the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, March 31, 2012. At least 22 Somali citizens died when two boats sailing from Somalia to the French territory of Mayotte capsized.
A municipal worker inspects a house damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Nov. 25, 2024. This photograph taken on Nov. 25, 2024 shows damaged cars in the courtyard of a destroyed building following a missile attack in Odesa.
South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung arrives at a court in Seoul on November 25, 2024.