N'DJAMENA - Chad's ruling party and its allies won a majority of seats in a February 13 parliamentary election, the electoral commission said yesterday.
The result signalled strong support for President Idriss Deby ahead of an April presidential election. Deby's Patriotic Salvation Movement won 110 of the 188 parliamentary seats. Together with two allies, it now controls 131 seats after the first parliamentary election in eight years in the country.
Despite some irregularities, the election was conducted peacefully with a 56,6percent participation rate, Yaya Mahamat Liguita, chairman of the independent electoral commission said.
Past attempts to hold the election had failed because of lack of security in the former French colony, which produces about 115000 barrels of oil per day.