Ballot box probe in Togo
21/10/2007 15:47  - (SA)  

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Lome - Togo's national election commission said on Sunday that it could not announce the full results of last week's parliamentary election because of apparent irregularities during vote-counting in the capital Lome.

The commission said in a statement broadcast on national radio that boxes had been delivered to counting centres in Lome without official seals and that results had been recorded from polling booths which did not appear on official lists.

"Given this situation and in an effort to maintain calm, the electoral commission has decided not to announce provisional results for Lome," the statement said.

Ruling RPT won a majority of seats

The commission said it had deferred the matter to the former French colony's constitutional court, the body responsible for confirming the final results and hearing any legal challenges.

Provisional results from most of Togo announced on Wednesday showed that the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) won a majority of at least 49 of 81 parliamentary seats. Electoral officials said voter turnout was 95%.

Togolese authorities hope the election will lead to a full resumption of international aid to the country, which has suffered decades of authoritarian rule and periods of bloody unrest since independence in 1960.

The European Union, once Togo's biggest donor, froze most aid in 1993, citing the country's poor democratic record.

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