While Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbe has been re-elected president in a landslide electoral victory, the opposition candidate, former prime minist
While Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbe has been re-elected president in a landslide electoral victory, the opposition candidate, former prime minister Gabriel Messan Agbeyome Kodjo also claimed victory and called Monday’s result a masquerade.
Glassingbe’s win, if confirmed, will give him a fourth five-year term and extend a family dynasty that began when his father took power in a 1967 coup. But some Togolese worry that a contested outcome could lead to political violence.
Preliminary figures released by the electoral commission showed Gnassingbe winning with 72 per cent of the vote, with his main opponent at 18 per cent. Longtime opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre received just four per cent, however, the final results are expected in the coming days.
Gnassingbe told supporters that “to my unlucky adversaries, I would like to tell them, this is the game of democracy. Let’s stop improvising, stop inventing imaginary numbers and submit to the judgment of the Togolese people.’’
Kodjo repeated the claim that his camp’s tallies showed him winning the election. He had said before the results were announced that he had won around 60 per cent of the vote.
“We are calling on the Togolese people to mobilise to show its disapproval of this election masquerade.’’
Under the law, Kodjo has 72 hours after the results were announced to officially contest the results with the Supreme Court.
Togo has seen protests in the past by demonstrators who say the president has illegally outstayed his welcome. When Gnassingbe came to power in 2005 after his father’s death, mass protests against the family’s rule were met with a violent police crackdown during which at least 500 people were killed.
Another five-year term for Gnassingbe would be a blow to Togo’s fractured opposition, which is desperate for change but has been unable to launch a concerted political campaign against the president.
Togo is the 10th poorest country in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund.
