BY: Lambert Atsivor | Voltaonlinegh.com|

Togolese President, Fare Gnassingbe has won his fourth term bid, securing over 70 percent of total votes cast in the country’s presidential elections held on Saturday.

Provisional results announced by Tchambakou Ayassor, president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) Sunday night, revealed that Mr. Gnassingbe,  leader of the Union for the Republic (UNIR), garnered about 1,338,889 votes representing 72.37 per cent as against his closet contender, Dr. Gabriel Mensah Agbeyome Kodjo, of the Patriotic Movement for Democracy and Development (MPDD), who had 116,685 votes, representing 18.37 per cent.

The remaining five other candidates however shared the rest of the total results. They are, Professor Tchaboure Gogue, – Alliance of Democrats for Integral Development (ADDI), Dr Georges William Kuessan, – People’s Health Party, Mr Mohamed Tchassona Traore, – Citizen Movement for Democracy and Development (MCDF) and, Professor Komi Wolou, – Socialist Pact for Renewal (PSR).

The results which were announced on constituency basis, saw the incumbent winning four out  of the five regions of the country – namely, Savannah, Kara, Plateau  and Central regions, leaving Dr. Kodjo with just the Marine/Coastal region.

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Prior to the official announcement however, results from voting centres in the south placed Dr. Agbeyome Kodjo, a former prime minister in an early lead, with two of the candidates conceding defeat and throwing their weight behind him.

Some of the opposition parties had also complained of intimidation during counting and collation of results in the north of the country.

With the provisional results announced, the elections management body is expected to within a week submit for validation, the final results of the presidential polls to the country’s Constitutional Court, where aggrieved candidates could contest the results.

Highlights

• This is the first presidential election after constitutional changes occasioned by anti-government protests in 2017.
• Per the Togolese law, a candidate will require a 50 per cent and more votes to be declared a winner.
• In the absence of that, the two top candidates would go for a run-off to be conducted within weeks.
• The Togolese Political history is dominated by the Gnassingbe family, which has ruled the country since 1967.
• Incumbent President Faure took over in 2005 following the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema who ruled Togo for nearly four decades after coming to power through a coup d’état in 1967.
• He has since won two re-election bids in 2010 and 2015
• Dr Agbeyome Kodjo, former ally of Faure’s late father, candidature has the backing of an influential Togolese Catholic Bishop, Philippe Fanoko Kpodzro.

Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com