Togo news: Faure Gnassingbé party wins majority of seats in parliamentary elections

Togo President Faure Gnassingbé's party won most seats in parliamentary elections, according to provisional results on Monday, in polls overshadowed by pre-ballot clashes and an opposition boycott.

But the party will need support from other legislators to secure a fourth-fifths majority for constitutional change giving President Gnassingbe the chance of staying in power beyond 2020. His Union for the Republic (UNIR) won 59 of the 91 National Assembly seats in the December 20 legislative polls, the provisional results said. The closely-watched election saw the 14-party opposition coalition, C-14, refuse to take part, condemning the playing field as skewed.

"The coalition and the people have rejected any notion of elections in the prevailing conditions. The results don't correspond to the wishes of the Togolese who didn't take part. The struggle continues and will get even tougher after these elections," Nathaniel Olympio, head of the Party of the Togolese, told AFP.