Togo opposition cries foul as election vote count favours government

Opposition groups in Togo have accused authorities of ballot-stuffing in Monday's legislative and regional elections, where vote counting is still underway. Regional observers, however, judged the polls to be free and fair.

Electoral authorities have yet to release initial results from Monday's vote, which came after lawmakers passed a divisive constitutional reform that critics say will extend President Faure Gnassingbé's grip on power in the the small West African state.

It was the first vote since the adoption of the new constitution that created a prime minister-style post opposition parties believe will allow Gnassingbé to evade term limits.

Gnassingbé, 57, has already won four elections since 2005, all denounced as flawed by the opposition.

The main opposition party boycotted the last parliamentary elections in 2018, citing irregularities.

'Irregularities'

This year, the Dynamics for the Majority of the People (DMP) opposition alliance said it observed irregularities in several centres including over-voting and delays in the start of voting as well as electoral lists "not displayed" correctly.

Nathaniel Olympio, president of the opposition Togolese Party accused international organisations of validating "fraudulent elections" and deploying "less than 70 observers" throughout the country.

Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson, leader of the Democratic Convention of African Peoples party (CDPA) told RFI she intends to challenge the validity of the poll. 

"We can tell you that there were some abuses across the entire territory...there was a lot of ballot stuffing," she told RFI's correspondent in Lomé.

"This is just the beginning of massive fraud that we have witnessed. For all this, we have proof. We will take recourse and prosecute those who were involved."

However for Pascal Bodjona, the new political advisor to the president, the lead by the ruling party so far can be attributed to the constant presence of the UNIR party on the ground.

"If there has been fraud, the competent authorities will do their job," he told RFI's correspondent. 

No major incidents

Observers from the regional group Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) said the election had been carried out mostly in a "good atmosphere" and without any major incidents.

They noted concerns about how some ballots were annulled and how voters were still queueing up as polling stations closed.

But the insufficiencies did not impair the transparency and regularity of the voting, the CEN-SAD added.

Regional body Ecowas said it was satisfied with the "smooth organisation" of the election.

Togo's military initially put Gnassingbé in power nearly two decades ago after the death of his father Gnassingbé Eyadema, who ruled the Gulf of Guinea nation for almost four decades.

According to the new constitution adopted by lawmakers on 19 April, Togo's president assumes a mostly ceremonial role elected by parliament for a four-year term.

Power now resides with the new "president of the council of ministers", a sort of super-Prime Minister, who automatically will be the leader of the majority party in the new assembly.

Gnassingbé's UNIR party, already dominates parliament. If the ruling party is declared the winner, he can assume that new post, whereas he would only have been able to run one more time as president in 2025.

According to the rules, the electoral commission in Togo has six days following the poll to make the results public.