Lome, Togo – Togolese lobbed stones and Molotov cocktails for a second day Wednesday after the son of the nation’s late dictator was declared the winner of disputed presidential elections. Six people died, and at least 100 were injured.
Opposition leaders alleged widespread fraud in Sunday’s vote in the West African nation and called for supporters to continue their defiance.
Bob Akitani, the main opposition candidate, said the opposition’s own ballot count put him ahead of Faure Gnassingbe, who had been declared the winner a day earlier.
“Togolese, your president is speaking to you. Because we didn’t lose the presidential elections,” Akitani said.
“At the expense of our lives, we must be opposed to people who think they have divine order to govern this country. The struggle will be long, but victory will be ours. … Resist until the final victory.”
The West African bloc that has worked to defuse the presidential succession crisis, which began after the Feb. 5 death of dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, criticized Akitani’s declaration and urged formation of a power-sharing government.
Clashes pitting riot police against opposition supporters began Tuesday after electoral commission chairwoman Kissem Tchangai Walla announced that Gnassingbe had won 1.3 million votes, or 60 percent, while Akitani got 841,000, or 38 percent.
The military installed Gnassingbe as president shortly after his father died of a heart attack.
Amid international pressure, the 39-year-old son agreed to an election, but the balloting was marred by violence and allegations of vote-tampering.
Togo, a nation of 5 million, is economically weak, but its turmoil could echo across the region. Nigeria was among the nations that intervened to ensure a democratic succession.
Mohammed Ibn Chambas, executive secretary of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States – which declared the elections free and fair – condemned the opposition’s stance.
“Self-proclamation or unilateral declaration of presidency, with due respect, is not a democratic way of electing a president,” Chambas said.
U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Tuesday that the United States was studying “numerous reports of election irregularities” and had not yet drawn a conclusion about the fairness of the election.
