Also on October 16, Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development & Humanitarian Aid, praised the elections for what he described as their calmness and high voter turnout and the "confidence and maturity of the Togolese people in the exercise of democracy". On the same day, the EU observer mission said the elections were marked by "satisfactory conditions" and high turnout, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which had 152 observers present, deemed the elections to be "free, fair and open". The African Union also gave a positive assessment of the elections on October 17, although it pointed to some areas for improvement, such as providing sufficient electoral material and the way proxy voting was used.