LOME, April 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Togo's opposition candidate Bob Akitani on Wednesday declared himself president of the west African country one day after electoral official released the preliminary results showing him defeated by son of late president Faure Gnassingbe.

    Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission Kissem Tchangai-Walla announced Tuesday morning that the ruling party's candidate Faure Gnassingbe has won the Sunday's presidential polls.

    However, Akitani told reporters on Wednesday in capital Lome that he did not lose Sunday's presidential election, saying the opposition coalition won most of the votes cast in all the constituencies.

    He denounced many irregularities which occurred during the polls, for which, he said 40 percent of the ballots for eligible voters were not distributed in Maritime Region, considered as the opposition's stronghold.

    "We should oppose arbitration," Akitani said, adding the battlewill be long, but the victory can not be prevented.

    According to different sources, the clashes between the government's security forces and pro-opposition militants have killed over 10 people and injured hundreds of others since the announcement of the poll results.

    The poll was called after Faure Gnassingbe failed to take over the helm of the country directly from his father after the latter's sudden death.

    Although backed by the army, violating the constitution, the move was widely opposed by the international community and westernAfrican leaders. Under intense pressure from protests at home and abroad, Faure stepped down after three weeks.

    Kissem announced that according to the preliminary results collected by her commission, Faure, grabbing 60.22 percent of the valid ballots cast, exceeding Akitani with a relatively big marginof 38.19 percent.

    However, she said all the over 2.2 million valid ballots that have been taken into account did not include the ballot boxes which were destroyed by the militants unknown in the Lome constituency.

    She has called on all the voters to accept the results producedunder the "fair play" environment, and told reporters her commission will submit the information to the constitutional court,which is expected to announce the final results in two weeks. Enditem