Lome (Togo): Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe has won a third term with 58.75 per cent of the vote in Saturday's polls, the electoral commission said, with his main rival Jean-Pierre Fabre taking 34.95 per cent.
"The national electoral commission states that Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe has been elected based on provisional results which are subject to confirmation by the Constitutional Court," the commission's head Taffa Tabiou said late yesterday.
"It's a deserved win. It is the victory of the Togolese people who want, with the president Faure Gnassingbe, to continue advancing toward progress and in peace," was the reaction of the presidency.
Gnassingbe's family has ruled the small west African country for almost half a century.
The president, who first came to power in 2005 on the death of his iron-fisted father Gnassingbe Eyadema, saw his bid for a third term sharply boosted by overwhelming support from the north of the country, a family stronghold.
Out of 3,509,258 registered voters, Gnassingbe won 1,214,267 votes against 722,347 for Fabre.
Tchaboure Gogue, one of three candidates from small opposition parties who chose to take on both Fabre and the president, took 3.08 percent of the vote.
Despite international monitors calling the vote free and transparent, opposition members had accused the government of engaging in elections fraud to try to hold on to power.
However later yesterday the tone eased, with Fabre himself telling AFP that he would "leave the CENI to do its work", referring to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Currently there are no limits on the number of times a president can stand for re-election. The opposition wants a two-term limit.
The army provoked an outcry when it first rushed Gnassingbe into office after General Eyadema died in February 2005, leaving a power vacuum following his rule of 38 years.
Gnassingbe swiftly stood down and an election was hastily organised, which saw him win his first five-year term in a nation that was previously administered by Germany then France.
Togo celebrated 55 years of independence on Monday.
