Misanet / IRIN, 3 June - Togolese security forces clashed on Tuesday morning with demonstrators in the streets of the capital Lomé following the arrest of independent presidential candidate Nicolas Lawson and the spokesman of the main opposition party Union of Forces for Change, Jean-Pierre Fabré.

Later the same morning, supporters of incumbent President Gnassingbé Eyadema paraded around the city in a convoy of at least 50 cars and on bikes to celebrate what they said was a victory for their candidate in Sunday's presidential elections.

Sources told IRIN that Mr Lawson and Mr Fabré were arrested for calling "people to revolt". Upon hearing of their arrest, their supporters took to the streets, especially in pro-opposition areas of Lomé.

Heavily armed security forces were however quickly deployed. An unconfirmed number of people were beaten while others were arrested, the sources said.

Early results in the elections showed President Eyadema, who has ruled Togo since 1967, ahead of Mr Lawson and four other candidates. With more than 59 percent of the ballots, officials at the national electoral commission said, Mr Eyadema had taken a clear lead. Final results are expected on Wednesday.

Election observers from the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Entente Council [a loose grouping of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Niger and Togo] told reporters that they did not witness widespread fraud as the opposition had claimed.

While there were some irregularities, they said, the voting went on smoothly. The irregularities did not discredit the vote, they said.

On Monday, the opposition parties had said the elections were marred by fraud and vote rigging in favour of President Eyadema. The candidates had demanded a rerun of the polls. The government denied the opposition claims.

By UN media IRIN

© afrol News / IRIN

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