22nd May, 2024
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Chadian Prime Minister Succes Masra has tendered his resignation letter two weeks after he lost the presidential elections to the junta.
Masra communicated his letter to the newly elected junta chief Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Wednesday.
The PM confirmed this in a post on his Facebook page, which was authenticated by his team to AFP.
“I’ve just submitted my resignation and that of the transitional government, which became irrelevant with the end of the presidential election,” Masra said.
The 40-year-old Deby was proclaimed transitional president in April 2021 by a junta of 15 generals after his father, iron-fisted president Idriss Deby Itno, had been shot dead by rebels after 30 years in power.
According to the final results, he won the May 6 presidential vote with 61 percent of the ballot.
Masra, who was once a fierce Deby opponent before becoming prime minister four months ago, won 18.5 percent of the vote but contested the results.
Masra is a Chadian economist and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Chad since 1 January 2024. Having formerly worked for the African Development Bank, in 2018 he founded Les Transformateurs, a political party that became part of the opposition against former president Idriss Déby, and following Déby’s death in 2021, the Transitional Military Council.
Masra lived in exile in the United States between 2022 and 2023, after the 2022 Chadian protests. In 2023, Masra stated his intention to return ahead of the 2023 constitutional referendum. On 1 January 2024, after his return, Succès Masra was appointed Prime Minister of Chad.