(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Togo's presidential election on Saturday saw low turnout, likely boosting President Faure Gnassingbe chances of winning a third term and extending his family's grip on power into a second half-century.
The opposition's prospects of unseating the president were considered poor heading into the vote in the tiny west African nation of roughly seven million people.
Experts said the narrow chance of a stunning upset relied on a massive turnout among the 3.5 million registered voters, but, according to a leading civil society group, many stayed home on polling day.
Paul Amegakpo, who heads the CNSC coalition, which deployed 1,200 observers across the country, described turnout as "very weak."
Voting ended at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) and counting began immediately at several polling stations in the capital Lome, AFP journalists said.
Gnassingbe said partial returns could be expected from Saturday night.
After casting his ballot in Lome, the incumbent president called on people to "vote in peace", as election violence remains fresh in the nation's memory.
Some 500 people were killed and thousands more injured in the disputed 2005 vote, according to the UN. Around 9,000 security personnel were deployed nationwide on Saturday.
Gnassingbe has been in power since the death his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema in 2005, winning contested elections that year and five years later.
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