Lome: Jean-Pierre Fabre, the main opponent of outgoing President Faure Gnassingbe in Togo Presidential Election, claimed on Friday to have won the poll held the previous day.
"We have won the Presidential Election of March 4," Fabre, the candidate of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC), told a news conference in the Togolese capital Lome, before official figures were released.
"Results compiled at the voting centres in our possession give a comfortable lead to the candidate of the UFC," said Fabre, who claimed to have won "an average of between 75 and 80 percent of votes."
He alleged "irregularities" in voting procedure, especially in "stuffing of ballot boxes”.
"If these anomalies were corrected, our lead would have been more comfortable," he said.
The presidential vote in which six candidates were challenging the incumbent Faure Gnassingbe, the 43-year-old son of dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema who ruled for 38 years, was held peacefully on Thursday in Togo.
Fabre, an economist presented as the candidate of "change", was Gnassingbe's main rival.
Gnassingbe, in power since 2005, is seeking a second mandate.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, March 06, 2010, 10:39