Togo president wins new term in 'smooth' election

TOGO'S president Faure Gnassingbe won a new term as leader of the West African state, preliminary results showed yesterday after an election whose credibility was questioned by rivals.

Gnassingbe won 1.24 million votes, more than half of the 2.1 million votes cast and well ahead of closest rival, Jean-Pierre Fabre, who scored 692,584 votes, according to results read by Taffa Tabiou, president of the electoral commission. Turnout was 64.7 per cent.

Gnassingbe's victory in a previous 2005 poll sparked protests and a security crackdown in which hundreds were killed. International observers this time judged the election to have gone smoothly but cited some procedural flaws.

The election is being widely seen as a test for democracy in a region which in recent weeks has seen a coup in Niger, street riots over delayed elections in Ivory Coast and uncertainty over the future of Guinea.