Togo: Lomé voters rush to open polling stations

Text by: RFI Follow

Polling stations opened at 7:00 am (GMT) this Saturday morning in Togo, for the first round of the presidential election. Voters are invited to share the seven candidates running, including the outgoing president Faure Gnassingbé.

Publicity

In the popular district of Bé de Lomé, at the Poudrière school, there were a lot of people, even before the opening, with long queues in front of each of the nine offices., Reports our special envoy, Pierre Firtion . Many were looking for their names on the electoral lists posted at the entrance and then at 7 am, a few minutes late in some offices, the voting began.

An electoral officer holds a ballot paper for the presidential election which will take place on February 22, 2020 in Togo. PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP

The process is fairly standard. Each citizen gives his voter card, then takes the ballot where the names of the candidates are noted. They then go to the voting booth to choose the candidate of their choice, before putting the ballot in the ballot box. And after signing the signature sheet, they dip the left index finger in indelible ink, a way to prevent voting multiple times.

This morning, in this school, no particular tension, even if some were a little irritated to have to wait, not to find their names on the lists. In each office, the delegates from the different parties scrutinized the process carefully, often in a fairly peaceful atmosphere.

The inhabitants are used to coming here to vote very early, then going about their business. In this school, as in the 9,375 other polling stations in the country, voters have up to 16 hours, universal time, to come and fulfill their civic duty.

► Read also : Which organizations are responsible for observing the presidential election in Togo?

Presidential election in Togo: voters crowd the polling stations before going to work, as here in Lomé, this Saturday, February 22, 2020. REUTERS / Luc Gnago

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Download the app

• Togo

On the same subject

Presidential election in Togo: final preparations before the election

Togo: which organizations are responsible for observing the presidential election?