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Polling stations for legislative and regional elections in Togo have closed their doors since 4 p.m. GMT throughout the National territory.
14,271 polling stations were open this Monday since 7 a.m. GMT to accommodate the 4.2 million voters called to decide between 2,352 candidates for the legislative elections and 2,312 candidates for the regional elections. Upon arrival, only 113 deputies and 179 regional councilors will be elected.
Even if the CENI, the Independent National Electoral Commission, has not yet communicated the participation rate, the general observation established (and the local media talked about it all day long) is that the turnout was not large .
In the “CEG des Etoiles” census and voting center, located in downtown Lomé where our team followed the counting, general participation should not exceed 50% in view of the votes cast.
In a polling station of 311 voters, for example, only 127 voted. In a second polling station next door, 144 voted out of 304 registered. The trend remains this way in the other offices.
Another observation in this center, whether for the legislative or regional elections, is that the two parties which took the upper hand during the municipal elections of June 2019, are positioned in the leading pack. These are the Union for the Republic party (UNIR, in power) and the National Alliance for Change (ANC, of Jean-Pierre Fabre, the former leader of the opposition in Togo).
Jean Sande, the president of one of these polling stations, interviewed by Anadolu, explained that after this closure of the votes, “the results which are already displayed in front of the polling stations, will be conveyed by the presidents and rapporteurs of all the polling stations to the CELI, Independent Local Electoral Commission”.
According to his explanations, the ballot boxes, once again sealed in front of the members and delegates of the political parties, will be subject to verifications and new counts before sending the results back to the CENI, the only body authorized to publish the results of this double legislative and regional elections.
The CENI, for its part, has not yet given a date to know the first trends of this election. But we learn from close sources that an election night is planned at the CENI headquarters this night of April 29. And that the results should not wait more than 72 hours.
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