Togo's constitutional court confirmed Faure Gnassingbe on Tuesday as the winner of last month's disputed presidential election, which triggered days of riots in which about 100 people were killed, Reuters said. The court said Gnassingbe, due to be sworn in on Wednesday, won 60.15 percent of the vote. He succeeds his father, who ruled the West African country for 38 years and became the continent's longest-serving leader before his death in February. "The court proclaims Faure Gnassingbe elected president of the republic," said court chairman Atsou-Koffi Amegah. The announcement of the poll's provisional results by the electoral commission last week sparked violent protests by opposition activists, who said the poll was rigged, and heavy-handed repression by security forces. Western diplomats in Lome on Tuesday gave a death toll of around 100, the same as the opposition. The U.N. refugee agency says 18,500 people had fled to neighbouring Ghana and Benin. Former colonial power France and regional body ECOWAS have broadly given the election a thumbs-up, while the United States said irregularities in voter registration and electoral card distribution raised serious doubts about the poll's outcome. --More 2250 Local Time 1950 GMT
