Two candidates in Togo elections claim victory; votes counted

March 7, 2010 The incumbent president of Togo and his main opponent have both claimed victory in the presidential elections held in the country.

Both incumbent Faure Gnassingbe and candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre said yesterday that they had won a large majority of ballots. According to the Associated Press, about one third of all votes have been counted so far. Official results are to be announced later today.

"All the results we have confirm that President Faure has resoundingly, I mean resoundingly, won this election," commented a spokesman for the government, Pascal Bodjona, to Radio France Internationale.

Meanwhile, Fabre said in a speech to supporters that "[o]n the basis of the counts from certain prefectures, the UFC [Union of Forces for Change] candidate has won an average of 75% to 80% of the votes. We conclude that we have won the presidential election of March 4, 2010."

The election agency CENI said it will publish official election results later today.