Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly being used to encourage fairness and transparency in elections, and many developing countries like India and Brazil used electronic polling systems during their last major elections.
Togo's recent presidential elections showed, ICTs can equally be used to subvert the electoral process, when access to them is withdrawn.
The death of Togo's president, Gnassingbe Eyadema,followed by an election for a new president, people faced problems connecting to the internet.On voting day, many people called private radio stations alleging cases of electoral fraud, such as ballot box stuffing and multiple voting.In the next few days the telephone system went down,most private FM radio stations were suspended or allowed to broadcast music only, having been forbidden to cover the election and the borders were sealed.
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