Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:17:02 GMT
Alalam :
Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe won re-election as leader of the West African state, preliminary results showed on Saturday.

The election was seen as a test for democracy in a region that in recent weeks has seen a coup in Niger and street riots over delayed elections in Ivory Coast. Togo's last presidential poll triggered violence that killed hundreds.

Gnassingbe won 1.24 million votes, over half of the 2.1 million cast. His closest rival, Jean-Pierre Fabre, scored around 692,000 votes, according to results read by Taffa Tabiou, president of the electoral commission.

A statement on the Togolese government website put turnout at just under 65 percent. International observers said the poll had gone smoothly, despite some procedural flaws.

Hours before the result was announced, police fired tear gas to break up a protest by supporters of Fabre, who on Friday had already claimed victory. Ten people were arrested in the clash.

But eyewitnesses said Lome was otherwise calm, with a heavy police presence. The protests that followed Gnassingbe's first victory in 2005 triggered a security crackdown in which up to 500 were killed, according to UN estimates at the time.