Togo's election campaign culminated in a major show of strength at rallies in the capital, Lomé, ahead of the presidential poll on Thursday.

Fasozine reports from Ouagadougou that supporters of the two main favourites, President Faure Gnassingbé of the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT) and Jean-Pierre Fabre of l'Union des forces du Changement (UFC), were among those who took to the streets.

"Faure kpoyéla," meaning, in Mina, one of the local languages, that there is nobody other than the incumbent president, was the fashionable slogan among his supporters, whose endless caravan through the streets included a dance band. When the throng met the tide of yellow which constituted the supporters of the UFC, each side claimed victory and heckled one another, all in good spirit and without animosity.

For Arzouma Sibiti, who carried yellow posters bearing the image of Jean-Pierre Fabre, his candidate is the Barack Obama of Togo who will transform the ambitions of the UFC into reality.

In the run-up to the voting, efforts were made to prevent a repeat of the 2005 post-election violence, in which many innocent lives were lost.

Gnassingbé publicly condemned any kind of campaigning that encourages violence. As a precautionary measure, a 6,000-man force of agencts specially trained for presidential elections has been deployed across the country.

Opposition parties and a number of observers have already raised concerns over early voting by military personnel on Monday. While the government argues that this was necessary to enable the military to maintain peace and order on election day, the opposition believes this is a fraudulent mechanism that has been used by the government in the past to inflate results.

One observer also denounced the African Union's choice of former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo as head of the its observer mission, owing to his pledge of support to Gnassingbé when the latter succeeded his father.

Unequal access to resources has also been seen in the campaigns: the incumbent toured the country by helicopter, while the other seven candidates had to use modest modes of transport to canvas for votes.

That notwithstanding, Gnassingbé is expected to face fierce competition from Fabre and the UFC, backed by a group of parties priding themselves as Front Républicain pour l'Alternance et le Changement (FRAC).

Composite article by Michael Tantoh and John Allen, drawn from AllAfrica's French content partners:

Fin de campagne, démonstration de forces!

Présidentielle - Déjà des plaintes!

Présidentielle - Une campane déséquilibrée