leadership. Gnassingbé, at age 38, was even younger than Harry Olympio, and also tried to use this to his advantage by stressing the need for youthful leadership. Another candidate, Kofi Yamgnane, withdrew from the race in favor of Bob-Akitani on 23 March. Candidates had until 26 March to register, and campaigning took place from 8 to 22 April. The opposition demanded the postponement of the elections, and continued to do so after the Independent National Electoral Commission said on 23 March that the elections would go ahead as scheduled. Demonstrations both for and against the 24 April date were held on 26 March. Voter registration began on 28 March; complaining of irregularities in the registration process, on 29 March minor candidates Harry Olympio and Nicolas Lawson of the Party for Renewal and Redemption (PRR) also called for the election to be delayed by one month. Harry Olympio alleged that some opposition supporters were not being allowed to register, that voter cards issued for deceased individuals were being distributed and that people were being intimidated by the army, predicting "massive electoral fraud", and said that failure to postpone the election would result in a call for revolution. On 16 April, seven people—six from the ruling party and one from the opposition—were reportedly killed in clashes between supporters of the two sides. Each side accused the other of provoking the violence. A few days before the elections, Interior Minister Francois Boko said it would be "suicidal" to hold the elections as planned and called for it to be postponed. He also called for a transitional government to be set up that would last for one or two years with an opposition Prime Minister. This call was quickly rejected by interim president Bonfoh Abbass, who also said that Boko would be replaced as Interior Minister. Bob-Akitani, who also wanted the elections postponed, called Boko's action "courageous". Following Boko's statement, Lawson withdrew his candidacy. On 25 April Gnassingbé and Gilchrist Olympio reportedly reached a deal providing for the establishment of a government of national unity, regardless of who won the election, but this was later denied by the opposition. Conduct As the voting ended on 24 April, three people were reported to have been killed. Each side accused the other of disruption and stuffing ballot boxes. Results On 26 April provisional results were announced; Gnassingbé had won with 60.22% of the vote, with Bob-Akitani