Togolese vote in legislative elections on Monday after a divisive constitutional reform that opponents say allows President Faure Gnassingbe to extend his family’s decades-long grip on power. The ballot comes after lawmakers approved the reform this month that creates a new prime minister-style post opponents fear is tailored for Gnassingbe to avoid presidential term limits and stay in office.
In power for nearly 20 years, Gnassingbe succeeded his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled for almost four decades himself following a coup in the small coastal West African state between Benin and Ghana.
Monday’s vote will elect 113 lawmakers and also for the first time 179 regional deputies from the country’s five districts who along with municipal councillors will elect a newly created Senate.
For Gnassingbe’s ruling UNIR party this makes Togo more representative, but opposition parties have mobilised supporters to vote against what they say is an “institutional coup”.
“We want a strong turnout on Monday so we can give the opposition the chance to win and take control of the parliament,” said Afi Akladji, a shoe seller and a supporter of the main ANC opposition party. “We are not in a kingdom, the opposition will win these elections.”
Gnassingbe, 57, has already won four elections, all contested by the opposition as flawed. He would have only been able to run one more time as president in 2025 under the previous constitution.
