The people on Togo voted on Saturday in a presidential election widely expected to see the return of President Faure Gnassingbe for a fourth term, reported Reuters. Polling stations opened at 07:00 GMT on Saturday and closed at 16:00 GMT, with provisional results expected in six days.
The polling day was reported to be peaceful and calm with a moderate turnout, a large number of many voters vowed not to take part in an election they describe as neither free nor fair. The winning candidate will have to secure a majority of the vote to avoid a run-off, which would take place next month.
According to political experts, Gnassingbe will likely win the election outright in the first round and extend his 15 years in office, and his family’s rule of more than half a century. The 53-year-old leader has led the country of eight million people since 2005 after the death of his father, Eyadema Gnassingbe, who led the country for 38 years after seizing power in a coup in 1967.
Gnassingbe made some constitutional changes last year that enabled him to contest the election again this year, and potentially stay in office until 2030. The constitutional amendment limits presidential mandate to two five-year terms, but does not take into account the three terms Gnassingbe has already served.
In the election, Gnassingbe faces six other candidates from a divided and weak opposition, including Jean-Pierre Fabre, a former journalist and human rights campaigner who came second in elections in 2010 and 2015, and former Prime Minister Gabriel Messan Agbeyome Kodjo, who represents a coalition of opposition and civil society groups.
While the people of Togo are fed up with the Gnassingbe dynasty, the family has fended off various challenges to its rule, including protests that were met with deadly crackdowns in 2005 and 2017.
