Togo holds landmark election

LOME, Togo, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Several thousand international observers were in Togo Sunday for the first parliamentary elections since the death of longtime ruler Gnassinge Eyadema.

After boycotting voting in the West African nation for nearly two decades, the main opposition parties were participating in hopes the elections would not be the sham they were under Eyadema's ruthless 38-year rule, the BBC reported Sunday.

Until his death in 2005, Eyadema was the longest ruling president in Africa.

An election judged fair by the foreign observers could result in international donors restoring aid cut off 15 years ago in response to Eyadema's human rights abuses, the BBC reported.