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Ghana's president to mediate in Togo after opposition cries foul
Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama (R) speaks next to an unidentified guest (C), during a news conference after a meeting with Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe (L) and his political opponents in Lome, Togo, April 28, 2015. PHOTO BY REUTERS
29/04/2015
LOME (Reuters) - Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama, the current head of West Africa's regional ECOWAS bloc, arrived in Togo on Tuesday on a mediation mission after the opposition complained of irregularities in Saturday's presidential vote.
Mahama was accompanied by Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who will also take part in talks between political parties, the Togolese presidency said.
Results from 11 of Togo's 42 voting districts put President Faure Gnassingbe comfortably ahead of his opposition rivals, after he won nearly three-quarters of the valid votes counted.
Togo's main opposition candidate complained on Monday of widespread irregularities and called for the announcement of results to be halted.
But the United Nations' top regional official blamed the opposition for delaying the release of election results.
"The process of collating votes is slow and getting caught up in a political impasse," Mohamed Ibn Chambas, U.N. Special Representative for West Africa, told Reuters by telephone from Lome. "We thought it was necessary to invoke ECOWAS to see if they could add their weight to get it moving," he said.
The collation process for a single constituency took a full day, Chambas added, stoking concerns that results would not be ready by May 3 when Gnassingbe's mandate expires.
Gnassingbe is widely expected to win a third term, extending his family's long hold on power. He has held the presidency since 2005, when his father died after 38 years in charge.
Some observers voiced concern that mounting political tensions could lead to a repeat of electoral violence seen in 2005, when hundreds were killed.
Opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre's CAP 2015 coalition sent a letter on Monday to Issoufou Taffa Tabiou, the head of the election commission, laying out a series of complaints.
The letter said that the initial figures produced by the election commission did not match the results CAP 2015 members had recorded at polling stations.
West African and local election observers said on Sunday the election had taken place without major incidents, although turnout appears to have been low, at just over 50 percent.
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