LOME, Togo — The son of Togo's long-time dictator has been elected to succeed him as leader of this impoverished West African country, officials said Tuesday — an outcome that sparked street fights between security forces and opposition supporters who burned barricades in the capital.
Faure Gnassingbe, 39, won 60 per cent, or 1.3 million, of the votes cast in Sunday's violence-scarred election, said electoral commission chairwoman Kissem Tchangai Walla. Main opposition candidate Bob Akitani received 38 per cent, or 841,000 votes, she said.
“I'm very happy with these results,” said Komi Koassou, campaign director for Mr. Gnassingbe's party. “Democracy states that the candidate with the majority of the votes wins — and the population has voted for its president.”
Mr. Gnassingbe's father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, ruled this country of five million people for 38 years until dying in February of a heart attack. He was Africa's longest-serving leader.
A masked supporter of the Faure Gnassingbe, who has been declared the winner, celebrates in Lome Tuesday. (Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images)
The army then named Mr. Gnassingbe president in what many saw as a military coup. International pressure forced Mr. Gnassingbe to step down and promise elections amid opposition protests that descended into deadly violence. Parliamentary Speaker Babas Bonfoh took over as interim president.
Togolese angered by Mr. Gnassingbe's win erected flaming barricades in the streets of Lome and stoned passing vehicles. Residents scurried behind closed doors as plumes of heavy black smoke billowed over the seaside city.
In the opposition stronghold neighbourhood of Be, security forces fired tear gas grenades at stone-throwing protesters, witnesses said.
The United States had expressed “deep concern” about violence in the run-up to the election and urged the impoverished country to embrace democracy. Democratic progress could bring increased international aid and economic development to a country where one-third of the people live in poverty.
The average Togolese income is $270 (U.S.) a year, down from $600 in the 1980s. Unemployment affects nearly every household.
Opposition party officials, who accused the government of tampering with Sunday's ballots, called Tuesday for supporters to protest the election results.
“Faure can't win this election (fairly) and everyone knows it,” Jean-Pierre Fabre, secretary general of Mr. Akitani's political party, told Radio France Internationale.
“The opposition is calling all its members to react and to stop this from happening,” he said, without specifying what actions supporters should take.
Mr. Akitani went into hiding as voters went to polls Sunday, saying he feared for his life, and his whereabouts were not known.
The election results must be certified by Togo's constitutional court in coming weeks but are considered the final tally, even though they do not include ballots cast at about 700 polling stations that were destroyed during election violence Sunday.
Hundreds of opposition supporters rioted in the streets Sunday, angry at reports that members of the governing party stole ballot boxes or stuffed them with votes for Mr. Gnassingbe. A foreign diplomat said three men were shot to death near Lome's airport, but it was unclear by whom.
On Monday, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo convened a meeting between Mr. Gnassingbe and another senior opposition figure, Gilchrist Olympio, hoping to forestall further violence. Mr. Obasanjo said afterward that no matter who prevailed at the ballot boxes, a government of national unity would share power.
Mr. Gnassingbe campaigned on that platform, promising to bring together the country's political parties, long divided by distrust and suspicion under Eyadema.
