Togo election: Main observer group barred from monitoring

A motorbike taxi drive past campaign banners.

A motorbike taxi drive past campaign banners

LOME, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Togo’s national election commission has revoked a main independent observer group’s accreditation to monitor the country’s presidential election, just days before the vote is due to take place.

Long-standing President Faure Gnassingbe is widely expected to win Saturday’s election, extending his family’s decades-long rule after seeing off a wave of anti-government protests in 2017 and 2018.

In a letter dated Feb 17, the commission said it had cancelled the accreditation of the National Consultation of Civil Society of Togo to field their 500 observers nationwide, accusing it of “preparing to carry out interference” in the vote.

The move came after authorities previously blocked Catholic Church monitors from observing the election, which government critics allege will not be free and fair.

As the electoral campaign is under way, Togolese have to decide whether to grant a fourth term for Gnassingbe. The incumbent 53-year-old leader took office in 2005 after the death of his father Eyadema Gnassingbe, who led the country for 38 years after seizing power in a coup in 1967.

A series of major protests swept the country of some eight million people in 2017 and 2018 demanding that Gnassingbe leaves power. However, demonstrations were choked by a fierce government crackdown and splits among the opposition, with Gnassingbe’s grip now appearing as solid as ever.

The president pushed through constitutional changes in May allowing him to stand again this year, and potentially stay in office until 2030.

The constitutional change caps the presidential mandate to two five-year terms, but does not take into account the three terms Gnassingbe has already served.

Gnasssingbe has promised to create 500,000 jobs across the country by 2022 to ease the frustrations of the large number of unemployed youths in the country. — NNN-AGENCIES

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