Togo’s government announced on Monday that the upcoming legislative and regional elections are scheduled to take place no later than the end of the first quarter of 2024, deviating from President Faure Gnassingbe’s commitment last December to hold the polls within 12 months.
In 2018, the opposition boycotted the previous elections, citing “irregularities” in the census. This time, split in different parties, the opposition aims to challenge the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party and is urging a surge in voter registration.
While some members of the opposition contest the electoral register, expressing worries about potential fraud in the upcoming poll, the international organization of Francophonie (OIF) deems it “reliable.”
Eric Dupuy, spokesperson for Alliance Nationale pour le Changement (ANC), disapproves of the assessment, declaring, “This is another tactic to bolster electoral fraud through certification by the OIF.”
Faure Gnassingbe, who has been in power since 2005 following his father’s death, has consistently been declared winner of elections, despite protests from the opposition over the results.