Chad's Deby re-elected as army says it killed 300 rebels

N'DJAMENA: Chad's President Idriss Deby Itno was re-elected to a sixth term with 79.32 percent of April 11's vote, provisional results showed Monday, hours after the army said it had killed 300 fighters waging a rebel offensive launched on election day.

Deby, 68, has ruled Chad with iron fist for three decades and his re-election was never in serious doubt, with a divided opposition, boycott calls, and a campaign in which demonstrations were banned or dispersed.

Former prime minister Albert Pahimi Padacke came in second with just 10.32 percent, and the turnout was 64.81 percent, according to provisional figures announced by Independent National Electoral Commission chairman Kodi Mahamat Bam.

The first female president candidate in Chad's history, Lydie Beassemda, came third with 3.16 percent.

The provisional results still need to be approved by the Supreme Court after it studies potential legal appeals.

Officially nine candidates were running against Deby, but three withdrew and called for the vote to be boycotted, blasting the violent repression of peaceful opposition rallies. However the Supreme Court kept their names on the ballots.

Supporters and activists of Deby's party the Patriotic Salvation Movement celebrated the results, singing and dancing in the central square of capital N'Djamena.

"We are celebrating a great victory in the first round, but also seriously on our minds are our brothers, our comrades, soldiers of the Chadian army who fell on the field," the party's secretary general Mahamat Zen Bada said.