Court confirms Togo's Gnassingbe presidential win

LOME

 Togo's Constitutional Court on Sunday confirmed incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe as winner of April's presidential election.

Justice Aboudou Assouma said Gnassingbe had received the highest number of votes in the April 25 polls.

The announcement of the Constitutional Court cannot be appealed.

On Tuesday, Togo's Independent National Electoral Commission said Gnassingbe had won 58.75 percent of the votes in the presidential polls compared to 34.95 percent for opposition leader Jean Pierre Fabre.

After reviewing vote counting reports, which were prepared by the electoral commission earlier, the Constitutional Court confirmed Gnassingbe as the winner.

The announcement has energized the incumbent president's loyalists.

"I feel extremely happy," Georges Aidam, the deputy head of the ruling Union for the Republic Party, told The Anadolu Agency.

He said Gnassingbe would dedicate the next five years for social development efforts.

Aidam added that the president would also give priority to reform inside different institutions.

Togo's opposition is yet to comment on the court's announcement.