The suspense should not be there in Togo. The population elects its president on Saturday, in a ballot which should ensure the outgoing Faure Gnassingbé a fourth term in the face of a divided opposition. Above all, some of the voters have already announced that they want to boycott the vote that they consider neither free nor transparent.
Nearly 10,000 police and gendarmes deployed
Some 3.6 million Togolese voters are called to the polls in more than 9,000 polling stations from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nearly 10,000 police and gendarmes will be deployed across the country to secure the process. The results are expected early this week, according to sources within the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Faure Gnassingbé, whose family has been the head of this West African country for 53 years, should not face any major obstacle to his re-election, after having already won three contested elections, in 2005, 2010 and 2015 He faces six other candidates, including the historic leader of the opposition Jean-Pierre Fabre, of the National Alliance for Change (ANC) and the former Prime Minister Agbéyomé Kodjo, who could appear as an outsider despite his profile. of a seraglio man.
The big announcements of the candidate Agbéyomé Messan KODJO.
Interview published on February 13, 2020 in Togo Presse. # AMK #Togo #Denyigban #EZEVIA pic.twitter.com/iIu1EkkOn8
# JPF2020 # TGPR2020 #Togo
Presidential 2020 - Message from Jean-Pierre FABREhttps: //t.co/js2i65WyK5@anctg @RFI @RFIAfrique @lemondefr @LeMonde_Afrique @libe @afpfr @Reuters @RTenfrancais
Nearly 50% of the population below the extreme poverty line
The president can boast of a rather positive economic balance sheet, with a stable growth of 5% but his detractors denounce an authoritarian governance and the corruption of those around him when half the population lives below the poverty line, with less $ 1.90 a day. Togo also experienced a serious political crisis in 2017 and 2018 with huge demonstrations to demand the resignation of the president, but the Parliament finally approved an amendment to the Constitution allowing him to stand for re-election in 2020 and 2025. The coalition of the opposition, at the origin of the demonstrations, did not survive this failure and it is therefore on a divided front that their leaders present themselves for the vote.
In the streets of Lomé, in Sokodé (center) or even in Dapaong (north), many said they were "disappointed" by the opposition and warned that they would not go to vote. Several opposition parties have also decided to boycott the election, and the lack of popular enthusiasm dominated the entire campaign. The giant posters "Faure, believe in our future", posted everywhere, remind us of how unequal the balance of power with its main rivals, much less visible, such as "Fabre, the force of courage and determination" and "Kodjo, la luck of the alternation ”.
France prefers stability
This week, 500 civil society observers lost their accreditation, accused of interfering in the electoral process, adding to the 9,000 observers of the Justice and Peace episcopal council who were also not authorized to monitor the vote. "This leaves us really perplexed and skeptical about the outcome of this election," regretted David Dosseh, of the Standing Citizen Togo Front (FCTD), who accused the power of organizing an election "behind closed doors".
Some 315 international observers, mainly from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) will however be present, even if the outgoing president is supported by many of his African peers. France, a former colonial power, a traditional ally of the Gnassingbé dynasty and present in the neighboring Sahel in the fight against jihadist movements, is particularly sensitive to the stability of Togo in this volatile region.
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