Togo's election commission March 6 declared the son of the country's late dictator winner of the presidential race, extending the family's rule into a fifth decade.

Provisional results indicated President Faure Gnassingbe won 1.2 million votes, representing 60.9 percent of the roughly 2 million votes cast in the tiny country, said Issifou Tabiou, head of the election body.

Opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre, who accused the ruling party of rigging the election, received 692,584 votes, or 33.9 percent.

The contentious election is only the second since the death of Eyadema Gnassingbe, who grabbed power in a 1967 coup and ruled for 38 years, only for his son to seize power upon the dictator's death in 2005. The younger Gnassinge went on to win elections the same year that were widely viewed as rigged.