Five Candidates Will VIE for Togo 'S Presidency - Including incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe and Opposition Leader Jean-Pierre Fabre - in polls slated for April 15, the country's official electoral commission said Monday.
In a statement, the commission said it had conducted a preliminary review of the five candidates and their respective documentation.
Final approval of the candidacies, however, will be granted following close legal scrutiny.
"The files will be sent to the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Local Government for administrative checks," the commission announced hours after the expiry of a deadline for candidacy registration.
A final list of candidates will be released no later than 25 days before the April 15 elections, the commission added.
Along with frontrunners Gnassingbe and Fabre, the candidate list also includes Aime Gogue of the opposition Alliance of Democrats for Integral Development;Komandega Taama of the Opposition New Togo Lese Commitment Party; and Mohamed Tchassona Traore of the Citizens' Movement for Democracy and Development.
