Togo opposition cries foul after Gnassingbé victory in presidential poll

The opposition in Togo says the presidential election at the weekend was marred by ballot-stuffing as partial results indicate President Faure Gnassingbé is set to win by a wide margin.

An incumbent President Faure Gnassingbé campaign billboard RFI/OR

Gnassingbé onTuesday looked poised to win a third term, with 69 per cent of the vote against almost 18 per cent for Jean-Pierre Fabre of the opposition coalition Combat for Political Change (Cap2015).

The opposition is alleging that the number of ballots cast was higher than registered voters in "many" polling stations, according to a Fabre adviser, Marcus Kodjo.

"No equity, no transparency, corruption, something unbelievable," he said in a phone interview from Lomé, the Togolese capital, adding that "many" people could not find their names on voter lists.

Other opposition parties had called for a boycott and voter turnout appears low at 55 per cent in comparison with the previous presidential poll in 2010.

"The Togolese people as a whole are fed up with these electoral masquerade," said Claude Amengavi, the president of the Workers’ Party, which had called on its supporters to refrain from voting.

The African Union, which sent observers to monitor the election, concluded that voters had been allowed "to choose their president... freely and in transparency".

Amos Sawyer, the head of an election team sent by west African regional bloc Ecowas said on Sunday the vote had overall been "free, transparent and organised in an acceptable manner".

Workers’ Party leader Amengavi slammed their assessment.

"The African Union is a syndicate of African dictators so we are not surprised that they are taking such a position," he remarked. "They take that position every time an election is held in Togo."

The divided and fractious opposition’s reaction was predictable, according to Kamissa Camara, a National Endowment for Democracy specialist who travelled to Lomé with other AU experts to prepare Saturday's election.

"I met with every single opposition party leader and already most of them knew that were going to lose the elections," she said in a phone interview from Washington. "They were already trying to find excuses to justify their loss."

Figures released so far by Togo’s National Independent Electoral Commission (Ceni) concern about 26 per cent of voters.

Ceni has yet to release any results from the capital, an opposition stronghold – unlike the north where the Gnassingbé family hails from.

The family has held power for 48 years since General Gnassingbé Eyadema first came to power in a military coup in 1967.

He died in 2005 aboard a plan bound for France where he was due to obtain medical treatment.

He was immediately succeeded by his son Faure Gnassingbé who swiftly organised an election, winning his first five-year term.