The party was at its height this Sunday, May 5, in a headquarters of the ruling party in Lomé, the Togolese capital. The Union for the Republic (UNIR) won 108 seats out of a total of 113 in the new Togolese National Assembly.
Surrounded by her activists, Kayi Lawson celebrates her re-election as UNIR MP: “We won almost all the seats in the National Assembly, because we worked for that. And it must also be said that the opposition does not have a coherent policy. You have seen, in recent weeks and years, the opposition is always in contradiction with itself, so the voters wanted to sanction them in this way. That’s why we won a big victory over the opposition.”
(Re)read Togo: the ruling party largely wins the regional elections
A consolidated success also in the regional elections, the ruling party won 137 of the 179 regional councilor seats.
The opposition is divided, we recognize that. Given the results, this should lead us to reflect on our strategy going forward.
Paul Apevon, president of the Democratic Forces for the Republic (FDR)
A “divided” opposition
Facing the presidential party, the opposition only collected 5 seats of deputies, and in the regional councils it will only have 42 elected councilors, divided into 13 parties.
Paul Apevon, president of the Democratic Forces for the Republic (FDR), will occupy the only deputy seat allocated to his party in the new legislature.
He admits, the opposition has some responsibility for these results: “the opposition is divided, we recognize that. Given the results, this should lead us to reflect on our strategy going forward.”
“Fraud” according to opposition parties and independents
The double legislative and regional elections went well for the electoral commission and the ruling party; on the other hand, opposition parties and even independent movements denounce “fraud.”
For Brigitte Adjamagbo Johnson, of the opposition party Dynamic for the Majority of the People (DMP) which won a seat in the Assembly, there was not only “lots of ballot stuffing” but also many “votes by exception,” of the “pre-filled minutes,” or even DMP delegates mistreated on voting day.
Some “independents”, who do not belong to any political party, go in the same direction.
Adje Bédjen Nunyakpen, defeated candidate in this election, member of the independent ABN movement, affirms that his delegates, on the day of the vote, noted that people had “put several ballots under their clothes” to then slide them “in the ballot box.” ABN delegates also allegedly intercepted “two people” offering a “transfer” money to voters to vote for this or that candidate.
Other opposition political parties such as the National Alliance for Change (ANC), the Democratic Forces for the Republic (FDR), the Action Committee for Renewal (CAR), the Alliance of Democrats for Développement Integral (ADDI), as well as other independents, speak of fraud and plan to file appeals.
(Goodbye Togo: the opposition’s appeal to ECOWAS
The opposition party ADDI, which won two seats in the legislative elections and 8 in the regional elections, goes so far as to speak of “violence” In “many polling stations.” In the north of the country, two of its activists were even detained before being released. An ADDI candidate, Namiguitien Sandja, said he was molested in the Gnakpoung office (north), when, according to him, he wanted to check a case of ballot stuffing.
Peaceful elections but observers divided
These elections took place peacefully, the authorities agree, even if they noted around fifteen incidents with complaints being filed. The observation of calm is identical among all observers, but they remain somewhat divided on their analyzes of the progress of the polls on April 29.
International observers (ECOWAS, AU, OIF and CEN-SAD) underline satisfactory polls. As of April 30, in a joint press release, ECOWAS, the African Union and the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), welcomed the elections “inclusive” And “mastery of voting and counting procedures.”
(Re)read Togo: understanding the new Constitution and its controversies
But for some domestic observers, that’s a different story. According to the Togolese League for Human Rights (LTDH), opposition delegates were, for example, prevented from entering polling stations.
Ghislain Nyaku, executive director of the Collective of Associations Against Impunity in Togo (CACIT) which deployed 175 national observers, explains that power delegates had difficulty accessing certain polling stations. He adds that “Assessors and certain local leaders gave instructions to vote for a particular party.” For the counting, he “globally well done” but some offices have been “closed to the public” at this moment. Finally, according to Mr. Nyaku, there were even “ballot stuffing.”
The intervention of law enforcement and local electoral commissions, on the very day of the vote, made it possible to identify and resolve the cases “documented by the CACIT”.
Togo has just promulgated its new Constitution this Monday, definitively marking its transition to a parliamentary system where the head of the executive is the leader of the majority party in the Assembly. For this position, all eyes are now on the Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbé, who is also the head of the ruling party.
(Re)read Faure Gnassingbé, heir to a dynasty in power in Togo for more than half a century
