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Polls close after election


1. Polling station
2. Ballot box
3. Official monitors
4. Ballot box
5. People voting
6. People complaining because they couldn’t vote
7. Soldiers arriving at polling station
8. Soldier with machine gun
9. Soldiers
10. Two men arrested for illegal voting
11. Soldiers calming the crowd
12. False voting card
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Name and position unavailable:
“This voter is from Burkina Faso (inaudible) we arrested him.”
14. Arrested men being put into pick up truck
15. Pick up truck driving off

STORYLINE:

Polls closed in Togo’s presidential elections on Sunday amid opposition claims of rigged voter registration.

At Ape township polling station in Togo’s capital Lome, two voters were reportedly arrested under suspicion that they were Burkino Faso nationals.

Voters went to the polls earlier in the day with hopes that the election will bring democracy and restore order following months of turmoil caused by the death of Africa’s longest-serving ruler.

Leading candidate Faure Gnassingbe, the son of late dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, reiterated his vows to restore security, unite the divided country and install a government of national unity if elected.

His rivals were Harry Olympio and opposition front-runner Bob Akitani.

Akitani went into hiding after unidentified men stormed his office, tied up three staff members at gunpoint and stole computers, according to his spokesman.

After Eyadema died February 5 of a heart attack, the army named Gnassingbe president in what many saw as a military coup.

International pressure forced Gnassingbe to step down and promise elections amid opposition protests that descended into deadly violence.

You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d9657599189588a6c8d95e525374ca30
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

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