The West African regional group Ecowas and Nigeria have denounced Togolese opposition leader Bob Akitani declaring himself president despite losing to Faure Gnassingbe, who polled 60% of the vote in results announced on Tuesday.
‘It cannot stand. It cannot stand because an election has been held and someone has been declared winner,†Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Olu Adeniji, told AFP news service.
Nigeria, the biggest regional power, pinned its hopes on Togo forming a government of national unity after a tentative agreement brokered between the feuding camps on Monday by African Union chairperson Olusegun Obasanjo.
The executive secretary of Ecowas, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, also criticised Akitani and called on all of Togo’s political parties to form a power-sharing government. But on Wednesday a leader in the opposition alliance, Gilchrist Olympio, said all deals were off.
‘Our problem today is that after the massive fraud by this boy called Gnassingbe Faure it’s impossible for us to go into a government with him,†he told AP. ‘The ballot boxes were stuffed,†he said, calling the election ‘a complete jokeâ€.
But regional observers have said the result was, by and large, fair.
‘In Togo we had 152 observers, including eminent lawyers, jurists, retired diplomats, very elder statesmen,†Ibn Chambas said. ‘Their conclusion is that yes there were some difficulties … there were incidents of violence in scattered places but by and large the Togolese people had the opportunity to express their opinion.â€
The tally of votes does not include those cast at about 700 polling stations that were destroyed during violent clashes on Sunday.
The opposition has been collating data from their polling agents that they claim prove that Akitani won all the most populous regions of the country.
‘Men and women of Togo, this is your president speaking,†Akitani told supporters, urging them to stand firm.
The opposition intends to appeal to the Constitutional Court, which still has to confirm the result of the election. Angry opposition supporters took to the streets of Togo’s capital, Lome, after the election result was announced, erecting burning barricades, throwing rocks and attacking cars.
Plumes of black smoke rose across the city and frightened residents sought refuge as gangs of youths set up roadblocks. Pick-up trucks carrying security forces armed with sticks, riot shields and assault rifles roamed the streets. At least 20 people have reportedly been killed and more than a thousand fled to neighbouring Benin and Ghana as violence has spread.
Togo, a tiny nation on the West African coast, was the scene of Africa’s first military coup, in 1963, and was ruled by the continent’s longest-serving leader, Gnassingbe Eyadema, for 38 years. His son, Faure, was named president by the army when his father died in February, but he hastily called elections after protests and pressure from neighbouring states.
n Meanwhile the Côte d’Ivoire peace process was given a boost after Ivoirean President Laurent Gbagbo announced this week that his major rival Alassane Ouattara would be allowed to run in presidential elections in October.
Waiving the controversial nationality clause in the constitution, which had precluded Ouattara from contesting previous elections, was key to President Thabo Mbeki’s five-month mediation effort. It follows the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the dividing line between the rebel north and government-controlled south of the country.
Additional reporting from The Guardian