ACCRA, Ghana -- Violence erupted during vote counting in an opposition stronghold in southern Togo, West Africa, after allegations surfaced that ballot boxes in the mayor's office were stuffed with votes favoring current President Gnassingbe Eyadema, a report said Monday.

Opposition supporters stormed the mayor's office at Tsevie, 35 kilometers outside the capital Lome, on Sunday and set it ablaze, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.

A soldier was severely injured after his weapon was seized, the report said.

Togo's Ministry of the Interior issued a statement condemning the violence. Calm was restored by Monday, but tensions in Tsevie remained high, the report said.

Votes continued to be tallied on Monday throughout the country, as Togo's military strongman Eyadema seeks another term of office after ruling the Western African nation for 36 years.

Reports said some voters complained they did not receive voting cards, which led opposition leaders to accuse the government of rigging the election, DPA reported.

The government established a special elections security force of 3,000 soldiers to ensure security.

Hundreds of Togolese fled across the border into Ghana saying they feared violence would erupt after the vote. In the 1993 election, more than 200,000 refugees entered Ghana after violence broke out, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people.

Eyadema is Africa's longest serving leader. He seized power in 1963 when Togo's first president Sylvanus Olympio was ousted and murdered in a coup.

The former military officer has ruled Togo with an iron fist since 1963, except for a brief period between 1991 and 1993 when the opposition succeeded in getting him to cede powers to Prime Minister Joseph Kokou Koffigoh.

Edyadema -- accused of gross human rights abuses -- clawed his way back to power afterwards.

Togo's elections since have been marked by controversy ranging from the disqualification of the main opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio in 1993 and the current vote, to allegations of fraud, and the dissolution of the electoral commission in 1998 to validate a disputed Eyadema victory.

Elections in the country for the past 10 years have also been violent, particularly in the capital Lome, the current support base of Gilchrist Olympio, whose father president Sylvanus was murdered in the 1963 coup. "We expected Eyadema to refuse my application," said Olympio, who lives in exile in Ghana and France. "I am in exile because it is physically dangerous to live in Togo."

Olympio has survived several assassination attempts.

Several foreign observers were in the country to monitor the polls, which saw Eyadema challenged by five candidates.

The election was expected to be a race between Eyadema and the leader of Olympio's Union of Forces for Change, Akakpovi Emmanuel, also known as Bob Akitani.

The 74-year-old Akitani was disqualified to run, however, as the government said he was not born in Togo and did not have a tax clearance certificate issued by Togolese authorities. Other candidates were former foreign minister Edem Kojo, a popular human rights lawyer Yaovi Agboyibor, Eyadema's cousin Dahuku Pere, and independent candidate Nicolas Lawson.